Gun range permit off target

WASILLA — The city’s plan to build an outdoor firing range next to the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center has been shot down by a hearing officer’s decision that it would be too disruptive to nearby residents.

“The Planning Commission’s grant of the conditional use permit is reversed because the finding that the character of the neighborhood would not be disrupted is against the weight of the evidence,” Appeals Hearing Officer Eric Jensen, a Wasilla attorney, says in his decision issued this past week.

Although Jensen found in the city’s favor on issues of whether residents were given sufficient notice of public hearings and allegations personal biases of planning commissioners unfairly influenced the process, he was not convinced the city showed acceptable noise levels for the facility in relation to homes situated within a few hundred feet of the range.

“So far, so good,” homeowner John Katkus about of the decision. “I’d like to study it better, though.”

Katkus and his wife, Wasilla City Councilwoman Taffina Katkus, were among several nearby property owners fighting the gun range. Mrs. Katkus has stated in the past that it was the city’s pursuit of the gun range a couple of years ago that spurred her to become involved in local government and run for city council in the first place.

The city has 30 days to appeal the decision. The Planning Commission can either decide to let the denial of the permit stand and require the city to start over on a different permit or allow the city to reopen the current application for a permit.

Suspecting the city will not back down so easily, Jensen directed the city to pursue additional noise remediation measures and that any future testimony of ballistic noise experts provide stronger evidence that the noise levels are acceptable.

If the city plans to introduce another noise expert to make its case for the range, it must give those opposed to the facility a chance to fully review those findings and be able to counter them with their own experts, Jensen ordered.

Jensen ruled the city never fully considered whether the outdoor firing range in that location was harmonious with the neighborhood, only that it fit within an industrial district and airport. The homes near the proposed firing range are in an area zoned “rural residential.”

One of those homeowners, Brad Laybourn, said that although he’s happy Jensen reversed the permit, he still doesn’t have resolution on the fact that he was told in 2003 the city was planning to put in outdoor ballfields next to the Menard center — not a firing range. He also was told that if he granted the city right-of-way to extend water and sewer services for the future sports center, the city would build an access road to his property.

“Where’s my road?” he asked Friday. “It’s seven years later and I’m still waiting. If I’d known they planned to put in a gun range there, I never would have given them permission to use my property in the first place.”

Jensen says in his 15-page decision that he understands Laybourn’s distrust of the city given past events.

“The details of any effort by the city to construct the access roadway are not in the record,” Jensen wrote. “From comments by Laybourn at the appeal hearing it is apparent that he thinks the city has been operating at less than good faith regarding the easement. From Laybourn’s perspective, the city took his property without paying and, to add insult to injury, the city is now building a firing range next door. The city intends to truck in 25,000 yards of gravel and build a firing range before paying its other obligations.”

Although Jensen does not rule on that concern specifically, he indicated he did not think the current planning commission showed any particular bias against Laybourn or the other homeowners in its decision to allow a conditional use permit for the firing range to go forward.

He said that although commissioners’ comments made during the commission’s hearing on the permit might sound one-sided when heard in a vacuum, taken in context they were merely urging the commission to stay on task and not continue to rehash “old issues.”

Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dan Kelly Jr. said Friday that although he hadn’t had a chance to read Jensen’s decision, he doesn’t agree with the basic reasons for reversing the permit.

“We don’t believe it’s true, but that’s his opinion,” Kelly said, adding it was his suggestion in the first place to reorient the range away from the homes to lessen its impact. “We’ve got a new city planner now, so maybe she can shed some light on this. We’ll give her a chance to look at that and advise us. I know the range is popular for gun owners, but when you talk to people who live there you see that they have a right to peace and tranquility.”

As for Laybourn’s argument that the city broke its deal with him, Kelly said that’s beyond the planning commission’s prevue.

“We don’t have control over that sort of thing,” he said. “That would be the mayor who would deal with that issue.”

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright could not be reached for comment prior to press time.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.McKee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.