WARREN COUNTY, Iowa — A small group of Warren County landowners are celebrating a big victory in court.
After an eight-month legal battle, a judge has ruled in their favor, saying rezoning by their county Board of Supervisors to allow for a gun club to set up shop was done illegally.
“Morning to dusk,” said Sonya Ostling. “We have to turn the TV up to a loud number so we can just drown it out.”
Ostling’s family has lived in a charming, white country house off Highway G76 in New Virginia for more than 50 years. The property has served as a little slice of heaven, until recently when the peace and serenity was disrupted by the sound of shotgun fire.
It was a change that came quickly. And one that she says plagued her mother during her dying days.
“We found out in September that this was potentially going to happen,” said Ostling. “In November, we found out my mom had cancer, so she had her last few months worrying about this.”
After a unanimous decision by the Warren County Board of Supervisors, four parcels of land that created an island of nearly 150 acres were rezoned from agricultural to commercial. The New Pioneer Gun Club moved in, quickly began building, and opened for operation.
Now, Ostling says she listens to the ricochets as she visits her mother at the nearby cemetery.
However, hope may be on the horizon for a return to harmony.
“The zoning around here says you cannot put an outdoor gun range on ag land,” said Susan King, who also lives nearby. “And that’s what exactly has happened here to the north, south, east and west of this property.”
King is one of twenty local property owners who took the case to court.
“It is about property rights,” she told WHO 13’s Katie Kaplan. “This happens to be a gun range, but it very well could be a data center, a wind farm, a solar farm, an airport.”
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Ostling agrees.
“I grew up here, had guns all my life,” she said. “I have a permit to carry. So it is not about the guns.”
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In November, the group filed a Writ of Certiorari, asking a judge to review the county’s decision. A ruling was returned on August 19 in their favor.
“The judge did not mince words. It definitely is spot zoning,” said King.
Court documents show that the judge also found the move conflicted with the county’s own zoning rules and contradicted its recently adopted comprehensive plan.
Despite the ruling reversing the rezoning and returning the land to agricultural classification, the gun club was still operating roughly a week later.
“We hope our elected officials follow through with the court order,” said King.
King, Ostling and other local citizens are now waiting for their elected leaders to take action.
“This is where I planned on retiring and being here,” said Ostling. “And I hope that can happen. I hope that the right thing is done.”
New Pioneer, which formerly operated out of Waukee for decades, can still apply for a special-use permit. But for now, neighbors say they are waiting to see what the county does next.
The county did not take us up on our offer to interview.
“The County is reviewing its options and will decide its next steps soon,” wrote Supervisor Brian Arnold, via email on Wednesday. “The decision just came out and we do not have anything else to add until we finish looking at it all.”
WHO 13 also reached out to the New Pioneer Gun Club, which was not named in the court case. No one from the board responded to our request for an interview.