Council rejects gun sale variance request

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council had a spirited discussion that included input from neighboring residences, but ultimately rejected a request by Stephen Letson to give him a variance for a home business to sell guns from his residence.

Letson, who lives in the upscale older neighborhood on South Walnut Street south of Ervin Road, had applied to be a licensed gun dealer through the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), but needed to have a zoning variance to meet ATF requirements.

The city resident, who works fulltime at Eaton Corporation, said selling guns is an extension of his lifelong interest in hunting and shooting sports, but would merely be a side business, not a full-time occupation.

Letson also said he wasn’t interested in owning a storefront business, since his business plan called for him to sell guns at a lower cost, but still make a reasonable profit — something that would be much harder to do with added overhead from a storefront operation.

A number of Letson’s neighbors were at a Judiciary and Annexation Committee meeting held prior to City Council’s regular meeting on Monday to discuss the issue. While some neighbors were opposed to having gun sales in their neighborhood, most seemed to be against having a home business in the neighborhood period, since it was felt a business would lower property values for the single-family residences in the area.

Letson had noted when he first came to Council on October 9 seeking overturn of the Van Wert Zoning Board of Appeals decision rejecting his variance that doing so would provide a benefit, since as an incorporated gun dealer, licensed by the ATF, he would be required to do background checks on prospective gun buyers.

Currently, as a private gun dealer, he cannot do background checks, because he can’t access the related federal database. The ATF also requires a number of other safety measures for licensed gun dealers that Letson said he doesn’t have to do now as a private dealer.

Letson can now file an appeal of Council’s decision in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court, but such an appeal would only decide whether Council had overstepped its authority in rejecting the variance request, according to City Law Director John Hatcher.

Letson said after the meeting he wasn’t upset with his neighbors, but also said he didn’t feel his variance request was that big of a deal.

“It’s not like I was going to have a parking lot or a flashing neon sign,” he said. “I wasn’t even going to have a sign.”

Also during Monday’s meeting, City Council approved an ordinance prohibiting loitering on city bridges and also approved a supplemental appropriation to Fund 101 under Council’s consent agenda.

Mayor Jerry Mazur reported that a 100,000-square-foot spec building was under construction in Vision Park, while both he and Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming noted that local street projects were in the final stages and would likely be completed prior to Council’s next meeting on November 13.

Bill Marshall, who chairs Council’s Health-Safety-Service Committee, noted that code enforcement efforts in the city are progressing, and noted that a longtime problem property was finally being cleaned up.

He also noted that the city would need to make preparations to implement new requirements for city trash haulers on January 1, 2018, with Council members and administration officials working together on that project.

The next meeting of Van Wert City Council will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, November 13, in Council Chambers, on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.