SOMERVILLE – Residents have continued to press the borough Planning Board to recommend that gun shops not be allowed to open within 1,000 feet of a school, but the Board cannot even begin to discuss the issue because of ongoing litigation.

Borough resident Megan Andrews has gone to Superior Court to stop a gun shop from opening at the corner of Union and Gaston avenues less than a quarter mile from Van Derveer Elementary School.

Superior Court Judge Kevin Shanahan will rule March 7 on the complaint that seeks an order not allowing High Caliber Ordinance to open in the commercial building at the intersection between Primo Pizza and Hairitage Hair Lounge.

Daniel Schmutter, attorney for High Caliber Ordnance, has asked the judge to dismiss the suit, arguing in a brief that the court action was taken “purely to harass a lawful, constitutionally protected business, in the hope of driving them into bankruptcy or otherwise making them go away because of simple hateful prejudice.”

The brief also calls the “frivolous” lawsuit an “abusive misuse of the courts.”

Earlier this month, after residents raised concerns about the gun shop opening in the neighborhood, the Borough Council requested the Planning Board review the zoning for gun shops, which fall into the definition of “sporting goods” in Somerville’s zoning regulations.

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Residents came to the Feb. 14 Planning Board meeting to ask for the zoning change, but Board Chairman Bernard Navatto said that legal counsel had advised the Board not to discuss the issue until the litigation is settled.

“Nothing we do now is going to change anything,” Navatto said.

Navatto said the shop did not have to appear before the Planning Board because it was a retail use permitted in the zone.

Mayor Brian Gallagher, who also sits on the Planning Board, encouraged the residents to continue attending public meetings.

“We want the public here,” he said.

The mayor noted there are also a liquor store and smoke shop in the vicinity of Van Derveer School.

“I look at some of these things and I shake my head,” he said, adding “I ask myself where was the public outcry when these things were coming in?”

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Gallagher assured the residents that the Planning Board will have a “very thorough and passionate” discussion about the issue and “will come up with a solution that is best for the town.”

The mayor said the Board will also undertake a review of zoning in the entire borough, a process that could take a year.

Borough resident Caroline Flamos, citing statistics about increases in violence and decreases in property values near gun shops, called for zoning that would prohibit gun shops from opening within 1,000 feet of schools and day care centers.

Unlike towns like Bridgewater or Edison, Somerville does not have multiple elementary schools where parents can transfer their children if they’re dissatisfied with the school.

“We have no choice,” she said. “We’re being held hostage.”

In his brief to the judge, Schmutter said High Caliber Ordnance, which is awaiting final Superior Court approval to open, has been targeted because the firearms business “often draws strong political viewpoint and, especially in New Jersey, is the subject of a great deal of unfair prejudice.”

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Somerville NJ gun shop court battle heats up