Conrady v. Lincoln County

An ordinance in Lincoln County, LCC 1.1375(2)(m), which requires a landowner to obtain a conditional use permit prior to opening a "firearms training facility," is not preempted by ORS 166.170, ORS 166.171, or ORS 166.176.

Landowners appealed from the circuit court’s declaratory judgment, which ruled that LCC 1.1375(2)(m) was not preempted under state law. Landowners own real property in Lincoln County, where they intend to open a shooting range. A local ordinance, LCC 1.1375(2)(m), requires Landowners to obtain a conditional use permit for a “firearms training facility.” Relying on ORS 166.170, ORS 166.171, and ORS 166.176, Landowners argued that LCC 1.1375(2)(m) was void under state law. Landowners argued that these statutes established that the county was preempted from requiring conditional use permits for shooting ranges and could thus not lawfully require them to obtain a conditional use permit prior to opening a shooting range. The Court examined these statutes and tried to discern the legislature’s intent by focusing on the text, context, and legislative history. This analysis did not conclusively resolve the ambiguities in ORS 166.176, so the Court resorted to the general maxims of statutory construction to find that the county’s ordinance was not preempted by ORS 166.176, nor was it preempted by ORS 166.170 or ORS 166.171. Affirmed.