Officials seek injunction against gun club
Robinson Township officials want to stop operations at a gun club they say has stayed open even though its permit has been revoked.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Washington County court, attorney Gretchen Moore, representing the township, asked for an injunction against Iron City Gun Club to stop the “illegal operation of its gun club on its property” even though the township zoning hearing board nixed its permit.
A message left at the club Thursday went unreturned.
Owner Jason Doetzer testified at a recent zoning hearing the range “shut down and previously only sold memberships” when the township started issuing notices of vioation against it in June.
The township’s civil case is the latest potshot in a months-long feud between township officials and the shooting range at 920 King Road in Bulger. Township zoning officer Mark Dorsey – also the McDonald police chief – approved Doetzer’s permit application in April with “certain restrictions clarifying that the club was allowed at the location, but not commercial activities,” Moore wrote.
Some local residents soon challenged that decision before the zoning hearing board, which voted unanimously in August to reverse Dorsey’s decision.
In “findings of fact” supporting this decision and included with the complaint, the board found “‘shooting ranges’ and ‘shooting range facilities’ are not allowed” in the Interchange Business District, which includes the club, and Dorsey made a mistake when he issued the permit.
The club lost an appeal before to the zoning hearing board Sept. 14 that sought to reverse a separate effort by township officials to close the range.
Accusing the club of violating its permit by selling ammunition and targets at the range, advertising gun rentals at the site and was applying for a federal firearms license to manufacture or sell guns at the range, Dorsey had sent a notice of violation in June and a notice of revocation in July. A district judge awarded the township $10,000 in fines and attorneys fees from the club in response to a civil complaint accusing the club breached the terms of its permit.
The range has appealed the board’s decision to uphold Dorsey’s revocation.
In an appeal filed Sept. 16 in Washington County Court, attorney Marc Daffner, who represents the range, said the township permit was issued for a sportsman’s club, a permitted use in the interchange district, but the range “was brought before the zoning hearing board on several occasions to address concerns brought forth by nearby residents who complained of the possibility of noise or ‘stray bullets,’ despite the fact that the subject property had been used for decades for the identical purpose without incident.”