With a lawsuit on its way from the Hartland Sportsman's Club, the city of Delafield outlaws outdoor gun ranges

CITY OF DELAFIELD - While city officials are still waiting to be served paperwork notifying them of a lawsuit filed by the Hartland Sportsman's Club — which wants to reopen its outdoor shooting range in the city — on May 7 they amended an ordinance prohibiting such facilities in the city.

The club filed a civil complaint May 2 in Waukesha County Circuit Court alleging that the common council "acted beyond its jurisdiction and authority" when it refused to approve the gun club's permit to reopen its outdoor firing range.

The common council denied the permit application on April 2.

City Administrator Tom Hafner told aldermen May 7 that the city had not yet been served official papers notifying it of the lawsuit.

Although the council is aware of the litigation, it moved forward to remove outdoor firing ranges as an option for outdoor recreational uses, as the plan commission recommended April 25.

"This was unanimously approved by the plan commission," said Alderman Tim Aicher, who sits on the plan commission. "We discussed it, and we felt there was nowhere this could safely occur within city limits."

The battles between the Hartland Sportsman's Club and Delafield began in 2010 when the city closed the club's outdoor gun range after spent bullets were found outside the range and one grazed a pregnant woman dining on a patio a quarter-mile away.

The club tried to make recommended updates to the outdoor range, and applied for a new permit in 2013, but the city denied it.

The club filed a lawsuit in 2014 stating the city had unfairly denied both permits. Litigation moved from the county to the appellate court, and ended in February when the State Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

The latest decision, by the Second District Court of Appeals, stated the city did not have good reasoning for denying the 2013 permit, and added the 2010 denial would stand since the club did not file a timely lawsuit against it.

The city reconsidered the permit in 2018, but again denied it, on the grounds that the club's building violated city code by being too close to the lot line.

The newest lawsuit by the club states the finding by the city involved "issues never raised previously by the city" and that "some of the bases for the recommendation to deny rest on factual circumstances that existed for decades during which HSC operated its ranges without interference or complaint."

Hafner said the common council will likely convene in closed session in the near future to discuss the litigation.