A group of property owners have filed a lawsuit seeking review of the county's decision to grant a coonditional use permit for a horse arena northwest of Warrenton. The petition was filed in Warren County Circuit Court July 17 against horse arena owners Mike and Maureen Melton and Warren County. The horse arena is located on property owned by the Meltons on Pin Oak Road, located just off Highway A northwest of Warrenton. The petitioners in the case are a group of adjacent landowners who argued against the horse arena saying it was a public nuisance and would cause their property values to decrease. On June 1, county commissioners approved a one-year conditional use permit that was previously granted by the county planning and zoning commission. The commissioners did impose several restrictions on the arena including limiting the hours of operation and the number of events that could be held at the facility. They also required the facility not hold any rough stock events and prohibited alcohol. Only team roping and barrel racing are allowed at the monthly events. According to the petition, a writ of certiorari is being requested by the adjacent landowners, or at least a judicial review to decide whether the horse arena should be allowed. The petitioners allege the county abused its discretion in granting the CUP and are seeking that the court invalidate the decision. They argue in the petition that the county's zoning order "does not permit rodeo equine activities in the agricultural and forest management (AFM) zoning district and there is nothing close to this activity in the definitions of the zoning order." The property owners also alleges the county should have ruled on the neighboring property owners' pre-hearing motion that the conditional use application was not contained in the AFM zoning district and also should have made a ruling on a pre-hearing motion that the Meltons did not appeal to allow calf roping since it was not included in the original conditional use permit issued by the planning and zoning commission. The petition was signed by neighbors Gerald Scheiddegger, Don Whitmore, Edna Whitmore, Jeremy and Carol Copenhaver, Cory Webb, Jennifer Webb, Jim Grassmuck, Joe and Karen Gruber, Verona Hodges, and Elmer and Luella Johnson. Warrenton attorney Timothy Joyce, who is representing the property owners, said his clients had until Monday to legally challenge the commissioners' approval following a 30-day period from when the conditional use permit was issued. "The (previous) decision was based on incomplete evidence and did not meet the eight (planning and zoning) criteria," Joyce said. "That type of action is not allowed in an agricultural forestry management zoning order." When reached Tuesday, Maureen Melton said she was not surprised to see opponents to her family's horse arena take legal action. "We will fight it all the way," Melton said. "We feel we've done everything to be neighborly." Linda Gant, county planning and zoning officer, said her office has received two complaints regarding the facility since the conditional use permit was approved. She said one complaint concerned the high level of noise coming from the area. Gant said decibel readings from a site visit were within the conditional use permit guidelines. The other complaint dealt with the lack of portable restroom facilities. The Meltons were required, according to the permit, to place the portable restrooms on a platform at least 18 inches above the flood plain. However, Gant said the person making the complaint stated the Meltons were using a toilet in a horse trailer. A letter was mailed to the Meltons to have the situation corrected.