By Jennifer Wheeler
Rockford Register Star
Posted Nov. 15, 2013 @ 5:00 pmBELVIDERE — The lawsuit against Boone County, the former Boone County Board and the former county Zoning Board of Appeals for unjustifiably denying a permit to operate a junkyard was dismissed Friday, court records show.Steven Pierce sued county leaders in 2011 after they stopped him from turning his recycling operation at 720 U.S. 20 into a junkyard. His attorney, Jim Hursh, said in a 2011 interview that officials never gave Pierce a public health or safety reason explaining why the special use permit was denied.Judge Brenden Maher said his job was to not second-guess the county board’s vote nor reverse the decision, even if he would have voted to approve the permit. Rather, he was tasked with determining whether the officials established a rational basis for their decision.Ultimately, Maher said Pierce had not met his burden of proof in showing that the decision was arbitrarily or capriciously made.“It would not be irrational for individual ZBA, Zoning Committee or County Board members to take Pierce’s history of interactions with the County in connection with zoning issues into account when considering whether to grant his application on the expectation that he would comply with all of the recommended conditions,” Maher added,Hursh could not be reached Friday for comment on whether his client would appeal the decision.Boone County State’s Attorney Michelle Courier said she was pleased with the outcome since the county’s board rational ruling will continue to protect residents’ health.Courier said the junkyard proposal was put forward without “any plan or competent evidence that the junkyard would be safe or best serve Boone County on a property that already had a history of environmental and other county code violations.”
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