National Law Firm Urges Indiana Supreme Court to Side With Monroe County Recycling Business in Zoning Dispute

INDIANAPOLIS—Today, the Institute for Justice (IJ) filed an amicus brief in the Indiana Supreme Court case Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals v. Bedford Recycling, Inc. The brief urges the Indiana Supreme Court to overturn the Appeals Court decision which held that the Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) was warranted when it revoked a conditional use permit it had previously given Bedford Recycling, after a large competitor spoke out against the granting of the permit. 

“Zoning boards cannot grant a business a permit to operate and then turn around and repeal that license once a competing business says it doesn’t want new competition in the market,” said IJ Attorney Caroline Grace Brothers, who will argue the case before the Supreme Court, alongside Bedford’s attorneys. “A ruling in favor of Bedford Recycling would protect Hoosiers against this type of anti-competitive weaponizing of zoning laws.”  

In August 2021, Bedford Recycling submitted an application for a conditional use permit to operate a scrap metal recycling business on its 30-acre property in Monroe County. The Monroe County BZA unanimously approved the application. A month later, a $16 billion national conglomerate called Republic Services, a competitor of Bedford Recycling, petitioned for judicial review of the BZA’s decision to issue the CUP. Originally, the BZA stood by its decision. But several months later, after both a private meeting and a public meeting, it voted to revoke Bedford’s conditional use permit. 

Bedford then sought judicial review of the revocation. Under Indiana law, a zoning board cannot revisit or change its final decision unless an “error of law” was made in the initial decision. The Monroe Circuit Court sided with Bedford, saying there was no error of law and that the conditional use permit should be reinstated. However, when that decision was appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals, it was overturned, leaving Bedford to petition the Indiana Supreme Court for a final decision.  

“There is a rich history, in both Indiana and the United States, emphasizing the importance of property rights,” said IJ Senior Attorney Ari Bargil, who leads the organization’s Zoning Justice Project. “We look forward to making the case to the Indiana Supreme Court that the BZA’s misuse of its zoning powers to revoke Bedford’s permit is an affront to that history.” 

The Indiana Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in this case on June 5. IJ’s Zoning Justice Project aims to protect and promote the freedom to use property. For more than a century, the freedom to use property has been eroded through abusive zoning practices that disregard individual liberty and emphasize top-down planning over property rights.