ARVADA — Nearly 300 people packed an auditorium at Ralston Valley High School on Tuesday night to sound off about a proposed outdoor shooting range that could feature up to 30 firing lanes for pistol and rifle owners.
Most of those who took to the microphone railed against the range as an inappropriate facility that will have negative noise impacts on an area that is experiencing rapid residential growth, .
Amy Woodley, who lives in Leyden Rock, expressed concern about how the county-owned range might affect a future elementary school planned for her still-growing neighborhood.
“Will Jefferson County be willing to build a school so close to a shooting range and right in its direction?” Woodley asked. “What about the safety of the children?”
Spring Mesa resident Jonathan Snyder said neighbors who recently moved into homes are here now and said it’s unfair to have “a shooting range imposed on them after the fact.”
But Michael Schievelbein, from the same neighborhood, said he was warned by his real estate agent that there could be a shooting range built in the area when he bought several years ago. He said he has to drive two hours to fire his guns and said the metro area needs more venues for firearms owners.
Jefferson County officials began looking at locating a shooting range in the county several years ago after demand for such a facility began to increase. Open-space planner Scot Grossman told the audience there are only two outdoor shooting ranges in the metro area.
“It’s causing people to go elsewhere to shoot,” he said.
Those makeshift shooting venues, he said, are generally on Forest Service land, where trees are shot up and lead from spent ammunition contaminates the ground. A shooting range, Grossman said, would be able to capture and recycle lead while keeping errant bullets from hitting hikers and passers-by.
There will also be sound mitigation measures — including a firing shed, berms and baffles — put in place to dampen the noise, Grossman said.
A working group two years ago to build a shooting range. It will be months before a final decision is made by Jefferson County commissioners.
But opposition to the concept has been mounting in recent weeks in the wake ofthat attempted to model what level of impact would be felt by those in the area. Many residents in attendance Tuesday questioned the integrity and methodology of the $47,000 study.
Resident Steve Jouflas held up a recording of guns being fired at a shooting range, with the distinct pop-pop-pop sound competing with his comments.
“It’s annoying, isn’t it?” he said. “You have to mitigate it or put it somewhere where it’s not going to annoy so many people.”
Others at Tuesday’s meeting worried about their property values being eroded by a nearby shooting range.
But Murph Widdowfield, a longtime resident of Jefferson County, said the need for places where gun owners can practice their hobby is a critical amenity. And, he said, a range also presents a measure of safety for larger society.
“To be a safe gun owner, a person needs to stay proficient with a gun,” he said.
