WINFIELD | A Hebron couple won a Lake County civil lawsuit against the town of Winfield regarding the residential zoning of their previously agricultural property.

Newton and Wanda Robertson sued the town in 2004 after they tried to get a Winfield parcel rezoned from agricultural to residential.

They pursued the zoning change on about 4 acres along Decatur Street off 117th Avenue. Their plan was to rezone two lots, which could then be sold or developed.

A denial of the zoning change led to a four-year legal fight in Lake County civil court.

Lake Superior Court Judge Jeffery Dywan ruled on the Robertson's behalf recently, saying the town had no reason not to grant the zoning change.

The couple's next step is to petition the Winfield Plan Commission to subdivide the land.

Winfield Town Attorney Bill Enslen said he was not the town or Plan Commission attorney at the time the Robertsons' petition was denied.

However, he said the court agreed with the petitioners that they should have gotten the rezoning and the council did not have an "adequate basis" for turning down the zoning request.