Howell Township sued for not allowing gun range
Sean Bradley, Livingston Daily - January 21, 2019
Settlement talks are taking place between Howell Township and a Hartland-based firearms store after the store sued the township for denying the store's effort to establish a gun range.
Oakland Tactical Supply and Livonia resident Scott Fresh, Howell resident Jason Raines, and Rochester Hills resident Matthew Remenar sued the township Nov. 2in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Both parties are in active settlement negotiations – a settlement meeting was set for Friday – and have agreed to postpone the deadline for evidence submission for two weeks beginning Feb. 1.
The parties are being encouraged to work toward an amicable resolution of the problem, Martha Dean, a Connecticut-based attorney representing the store, said in an email Thursday. Howell-based attorney Matthew Hagerty is also representing the store and Fresh, Raines and Remenar.
"The township and we are doing that now," Dean said. "Given this, any statement to the media would be counterproductive; thus, the plaintiffs have no comment," Dean said.
A message was left seeking comment with the township's attorney, William Fahey.
The company argues Howell's Township's ban on rifle ranges and other shooting ranges, is a violation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"The Second Amendment secures the right to operate and practice with firearms at a range, for purposes including learning about firearms, safely gaining proficiency with firearms, obtaining any training required as a condition of firearms ownership, recreation, hunting, and competition," the lawsuit states. "In order to make possible the exercise of rights thereunder, the Second Amendment protects the right of the people, including Plaintiff, to own, construct, and operate a range for these purposes."
Oakland Tactical Supply leased 352 acres on Fleming Road in the township to operate one or more outdoor shooting ranges, including a 1,000-yard range and a public access range, according to the lawsuit.
"Mr. Fresh would like to participate in long-range competitive target shooting; however, he currently would have to travel 4.5 hours to reach a long-distance shooting range," the complaint alleges. "This distance is too far for Mr. Fresh, so he is unable to engage in training in the proficient use of long-range firearms. The range that Oakland wishes to open would be convenient for him for this purpose as well as for practicing target shooting at shorter distances."
Mike Paige – owner of Oakland Tactical Supply – filed an application on Aug. 29, 2017 to amend the township's zoning ordinance to allow a shooting range on land zoned as agricultural residential.
The application for amendment was denied by the township board in November of that year because the township's zoning ordinance does not allow for open-air businesses such as shooting ranges on agricultural residential land.
“We didn’t feel a zoning change would be applicable,” Daus said in November 2017, adding that industrial or commercial is not what the township is looking for in that location in the future. “...residents certainly don’t feel they want it in their backyard. As a zoning change, it doesn’t fit in the master plan.”
In its response to the lawsuit, the township's attorneys denied many of the claims made against it, argued against them, or asked for them to be proven in court.
The township argues the Second Amendment does not apply to the plaintiffs' argument that recreational shooting is a "traditional lawful use" of firearms in the U.S. because the township and the State of Michigan do not require training or any time on a gun range for a person to obtain or possess a firearm.
"Plaintiffs’ argument that there is a legally recognized public demand or need for their proposed use is unfounded and should be rejected because there are many shooting ranges in the state of Michigan," the defense wrote.
There are seven shooting ranges in Livingston County, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Furthermore, the defense argues the plaintiffs do not have the legal standing to sue the township because the company and the individuals suing do not own the land where the shooting range would be located.
This is the second federal lawsuit the township is facing.
This lawsuit was filed less than one month after a separate federal lawsuit over the township's signage moratorium was filed on Oct. 8. The lawsuit, filed by Crossroads Outdoor LLC, alleges the township's zoning ordinance grants the zoning administrator the ability to regulate content of signs, both on and off of a premises.
The signage lawsuit awaits its next phase as an answer to it from the township is due Jan. 29.