ELR Citation: ELR 20130
No(s). 91-3507 (7th Cir. Oct 5, 1992)

The court holds that a county landfill siting ordinance that has the effect of precluding future sites is invalid under Indiana law. The court first holds that the case is ripe for review. Although no landfill permit application is pending, this lawsuit mounts a facial attack on the ordinance. The question presented—whether the ordinance is a zoning ordinance under Indiana law—is purely legal and would not be clarified by administrative proceedings or factual development. Delaying judicial review would work a substantial hardship, because the investment already expended demonstrates a direct, tangible interest in the outcome of the lawsuit. The court then holds that it will dispose of the case on pendent state grounds and avoid federal constitutional issues. Indiana law prohibits local governmental bodies from enacting zoning ordinances in the absence of a comprehensive zoning plan. The court holds that the challenged ordinance is a zoning ordinance. Indiana law recognizes that an ordinance can be a zoning ordinance, even if it creates only a single district. Any distinction between an ordinance that forecloses all landfill development and a moratorium on landfill construction is irrelevant.

[Counsel not available at print deadline.]

Before CUMMINGS and FLAUM, Circuit Judges, and LEE, District Judge.^*