Kirtland residents travel to Willoughby

Residents address city council about skeet shooting noise

An estimated 30 to 40 Kirtland residents, including City Council President Kevin Potter, attended the March 6 Willoughby City Council meeting to address noise issues stemming from skeet shooting.

“They came, they are still frustrated with the noise issues with the Kirtland Country Club’s skeet shooting,” Willoughby Mayor Bob Fiala said. “They were there to voice their concerns and ask what we could do.”

The Kirtland Country Club is located at 39438 Kirtland Road in Willoughby.

According to the mayor, Kirtland residents offered a couple of interesting options that council could consider. One of which would be to simply strike the language that allows the shooting.

“Now that wouldn’t affect Kirtland because they would still simply exist in a non-conformed use because we can’t take it away from them, especially due to the fact that we lost the court case,” Fiala said. “What it does is it prevents it from happening in the future and my sense is that council

is prepared to do just that and immediately.”

The city cannot stop Kirtland Country Club from holding the skeet shoots because they exist under a conditional use permit, and losing the lawsuit prevents them from revoking that permit, according to Fiala.

Lake County Common Pleas Judge John P. O’Donnell ruled on March 20, 2017, that the Willoughby Planning Commission had no right to revoke a permit that allowed skeet shooting at the Kirtland Country Club, .

A conditional use permit was issued on July 23, 2015, to allow the country club to have weekend skeet shoots on Saturdays and Sundays from November to March.

But the permit was revoked Oct. 20, 2016, by the Planning Commission during a special meeting after Kirtland City Council members and residents of Kirtland complained about noise.

Potter explained in an email what he brought up at the March 6 Willoughby

City Council meeting.

“After revealing a poignant story of a local cancer patient and his family being assaulted by the skeet shooting noise during his final two weekends on Earth, I personally asked the Council to repeal their amendment to ordinance 1155 (1155.07) from June 9, 2015,” Potter said. “This and an amendment to (ordinance) 549.08 paved the way for the club to apply for the conditional use permits that allows the noise disturbance.”

Potter noted that Willoughby council agreed to the idea of repealing the ordinance and that Willoughby Law Director John Wiles said he would begin working on the legislation right away.

Potter also noted that the repeal probably would not have any legal effect and isn’t sure on this law being settled.

“Mr. Wiles explained that there is a legal precedent that would likely allow the club to continue to operate under the current permit by way of nonconformance,” Potter said by email. “I am still not 100 percent sure of how this works, but Mr. Wiles seemed rather sure

of this.”

According to Fiala, Kirtland residents asked what other things council could do.

“We are going to do what we promised them we would do,” Fiala said. “Myself, the law director and the chief building official are going to review the conditional use permit that was issued very carefully and then we are going to ensure that the Kirtland Country Club is following that conditional use permit,” Fiala said. “So, in other words, we are going to see if there are any violations to the permit, then we can enforce.”

Fiala noted that if they were to find a violation, saying they were in violation of any piece of the conditional use permit would not allow council to simply revoke it. Kirtland Country Club would have to be notified and allowed the opportunity to remedy the issue. If they fail to do so, then the permit can be revoked.

“It’s a complicated issue because the courts have said that that permit exists,” Fiala said. “So, even if we did that we would have to evaluate how the court decision would factor into that.”

The mayor also stated that because of the court decision, the council is really limited on what they are capable of doing. He also said that they are going to look at whatever options they do have.

“We are going to go back and explore them and see which ones we can do,” Fiala said. “We promised the residents (March 6) that’s how we are going to approach this.”

Fiala and council want to express to the Kirtland community that they understand their frustration and are actually trying to help them.

“These are residents that are upset and they are looking for somebody to help them and we’re trying to do everything within our power to be good neighbors,” Fiala said.

Potter said he was pleased with Willoughby council’s response.

“I am proud of Willoughby council for making this commitment regardless of the ultimate legal standing,” Potter said in an email.

“It will be a true demonstration of courtesy and solidarity in an unfortunate situation.”