High-caliber debate continues

WASILLA — A conditional use permit for an outdoor shooting range at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Complex has been sent back to the city planning commission after a ruling by an appeals hearing officer.

The application met stiff resistance from residents worried about the noise, safety and lack of public input in the process. The planning commission approved the application, but local property owner Brad Laybourn filed an appeal before the city council could vote on the plan.

Eric Jensen, a Wasilla lawyer, was appointed as the appeals officer. After hearing from both sides on Aug. 3, his written decision addressed each of the appellant’s concerns.

First, Laybourn said the planning commission did not consider all the city’s adopted plans when issuing the permit. However, Jensen ruled that the commission did specifically consider the comprehensive plan. If there are no other adopted plans, as the city claims, the commission fulfilled this requirement.

With regards to the safety concerns, the physical description of the range includes berms and a bulletproof roof over the firing line. This should be sufficient to contain the bullets within the range, according to the decision. Additionally, Jensen ruled transporting firearms from the parking lot to the range is not inherently dangerous.

The appellant claimed the commission did not give due deference to the nearby property owners. Four spoke against the range, and only one was in support of the plan, Laybourn said. In response, Jensen said, “The Planning Commission must be allowed to perform its discretionary functions in a manner that considers the City as a whole. The Commission’s decisions will protect the whole from a few and the few from the whole, depending on their combined judgment. Numbers alone, while a consideration, are not determinative.”

The appellant’s fourth concern has no merit, according to the report. The transport of firearms does not pose a threat or increase the danger to Wasilla’s streets or pedestrians.

The majority of the report responds to the fifth concern, that of off-site impacts. While safety and noxious odors do not pose any serious threats, the report admits gunfire noise is problematic. Noise concerns were the main point brought up in the public hearing, but the testimony heard by the planning commission about the sound levels coming off the range was “extremely vague,” the report says.

In addition, the planning commission recognized the surrounding forest areas will act as a sound buffer, but there is no restriction to prevent the removal of these trees, according to the report.

“Based on the record, it’s a close call whether the City has met its burden with respect to the noise issue,” Jensen said. “I find that there has been no abuse of discretion in the Commission’s findings regarding the noise.”

However, the report says, the plan may be faulty due to the size of the shooting range. Wasilla adopted part of Anchorage’s municipal code requiring ranges to sit on a lot of at least 20 acres. While the sports complex sits on a 60-acre lot, the footprint of the range will only be 2.5 acres. The report says 30 to 35 acres of the sports complex is currently in use, and perhaps some of the parking lot can be considered part of the range complex. But the commission needs to look at designating more land for the range, “particularly as it impacts the removal of the surrounding trees.”

The last question raised was whether the shooting range will fit “harmoniously with other activities allowed in the district and will not disrupt the character of the neighborhood.” The commission gave its implicit approval by issuing the permit, but the report says this determination was based off false pretenses. The commission was presented with facts describing the surrounding area as vacant, undeveloped property and other industrial uses.

“This finding is disingenuous,” the report says.

The property around the sports center is rural residential, not industrial, according to the report. While the immediate area is not developed, there are residences closer to the shooting range than any industrial use.

“The Commission likely made such a finding because the City representatives at times referred to the industrial nature of the area,” the report says. “The conditional use permit primary consideration is its effect on other properties. … Certainly, an accurate description of the surrounding property would be an appropriate adjunct to such a finding.”

In conclusion, Jensen sent the application back to the planning commission, recommending three areas for further review.

• The commission should review why a 20-acre lot is required for a shooting range and if this requirement is met if there are other uses on the property.

• The commission should consider if a certain amount of the surrounding vegetative buffer be protected as an additional requirement.

• The commission needs to determine if the proposed use can be harmonious with the other activities and if it will disrupt the surrounding neighborhood. Their finding needs to be explicit and in writing.

Even after the commission considers Jensen’s ruling, Laybourn will still not be satisfied. Everything has been done back-door and underhanded, Laybourn said, and what the people who live there wanted didn’t matter.

“I think that’s scary for the residents of Wasilla,” he said. “I think if it effects one person, it needs to be looked at. I believe there are places in the Valley where it wouldn’t affect a single family.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.