Noise ordinance approved: Company continues effort to turn an empty Fred Meyer building into an indoor shooting range

PALMER — By a 5-2 vote, the Palmer City Council approved a noise ordinance for Valkyrie Security and Asset Protection.

Valkyrie is interested in purchasing the old Fred Meyer building in Palmer and turning it into a state-of-the-art gun range with an apparel shop, gun shop, and eventually gunsmithing facility and manufacturing. At least 110 members of the public crowded Palmer City Hall for what is said to be one of the most well-attended Palmer City Council meetings of all time.

Public commenters were afforded the opportunity to speak on the noise complaint after the Council voted 4-3 to postpone their decision at the meeting on April 10. Mayor Edna DeVries and Councilman Steve Carrington, who had voted for the postponement, then switched over to vote to approve the noise permit. Councilwoman Sabrena Combs and Councilman Pete LaFrance opposed the noise permit. Council staff removed half the chairs so that the large crowd could fit, standing, in the chambers. It was not enough room as more members of the public overflowed into the halls. Many members of the public who commented for the approval of the permit stated that the issue was concerning noise and noise alone. Many public commenters who opposed stated that it was not at all just about noise but about downtown Palmer as a business center.

The passage of the noise permit does not ensure that Valkyrie will get the 66,000-square foot building, in which it plans to renovate for nearly two years with a potential renovation cost of $10 million. U-Haul, a moving equipment and storage rental company, currently has the sole official bid on the building owned by Fred Meyer’s parent company Kroger. U-Haul submitted its offer to Kroger before Valkyrie announced its interest and has until May to close the sale, according to John Norris of U-Haul.

Richard Stryken, who had grouped with Howdie Inc, Cruz Construction and JL Properties to submit an offer to renovate the building to be a mini-mall with many stores housed inside also spoke in opposition to the gun range’s placement. As with many of the members of the public, Stryken has no problem with guns or firearm safety but believes that Valkyrie should put their range in the industrial district. Stryken compared their proposal to the Tikahtnu Commons in Anchorage.

Combs invited Kroger to the meeting and got no response. She also encouraged concerned members of the public to contact Kroger themselves.

Barbara Hunt mentioned in her comments that she conducted a survey during the weekend at the Who Let The Girls Out downtown event and 201 of the 237 people interviewed did not approve of a gun range in downtown Palmer. LaFrance made a motion to table the permit indefinitely that died as there was no second to the motion. Once public comment closed, LaFrance gave emotional testimony that he felt that this was a process issue rather than one of noise or guns.

“I want to point out we’re talking about a noise permit for a prohibited use in a commercial district. That premise is absurd to me. We have code that says you can build these type of facilities in our commercial district. One comes forward and says we’re going to build a different facility and we don’t think to go through planning and zoning?,” said LaFrance. “I am angry about this because I think this is our administration going in the wrong directions. It’s not about guns. It’s not about noise. It’s about process, and this process is not correct. This is the administration sidestepping our boards and commissions this is our administration going in a directions that is opposite of public process as laid out by our charter. We’re basing this off one individual who says “oh I think this is what code says.’ Talk about lawsuit that we’re exposing our city to. This is not appropriate. We’re trying to issue a noise permit for a prohibited use. That is absurd. We should have tabled this the moment it arrived and sent it to planning and zoning, period.”

This is a developing story. Editor’s note: Barbara Hunt is a freelance reporter for The Frontiersman. Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.