Disgruntled neighbours take aim at Spruce Grove Gun Club
Residents who live downrange of the Spruce Grove Gun Club are taking one last shot at getting it shut down over concerns about noise and stray bullets.
Cheryl Ball has taken charge of the effort to convince the county to shut the range down. She said neighbours are afraid, and they're tired of listening to the sound of gunfire outside their homes.
Allan Gamble, whose family has lived in the area for four generations, said bullet holes can be found in homes and buildings downrange of the outdoor club since it opened several decades ago. He said his parents' home as well as his neighbours' have been hit.
"The biggest fear is someone actually getting hit with a bullet," he said.
RCMP confirm they have found two bullets in the Poplar Ridge Estates area north of the gun club, but could not say if the shots originated from the gun range.
Despite the neighbourhood's concerns, the county recently issued the range a permanent development permit at the club's request. That makes the appeal the neighbour's last chance to shut it down.
Ball went door to door to gather 94 signatures on an appeal of the permit. Twelve individual appeals have also been filed.
Usually the range is granted five-year permits. Ball and her neighbours lost their appeal against the range's previous development permit, which was set to expire in November 2015.
Spruce Grove Gun Club spokesperson Bill Newton said the range asked for a permanent development permit this time because fending off appeals is expensive for the club, and time consuming for volunteers.
New safety measures installed
Since the last appeal the range has installed cameras, passkeys, and new policies to improve the safety of the range, Newton said.
The club complies fully with federal and provincial regulations, and has surpassed the expectations of the Alberta Chief Firearms Officer during inspections, he said.
The range's submission to the subdivision development appeal board states there is no proof the bullets that have hit homes over the last several years came from the range.
The club points to other evidence of gunfire around the area, like bullet holes in traffic signs, as the likely source of the damage.
Range officials also have a sound engineer monitoring the noise at the range and filing reports with the county.
"Since we set up the sound monitoring equipment, we've never had an instance where it's been anywhere near in breach of the community standards," Newton said.
The county's manager of planning and development, Paul Hanlon, confirmed as much in an email to Ball obtained by CBC News.
Ball said the reason the monitors aren't picking up the noise is the way the county and the range measure sound.
The volume, she says, has been averaged over time. But residents discovered an RCMP report that explains gunfire must be measured differently than most nuisance noises.
The report was prepared for government to inform regulations around the construction of shooting ranges. It states gunfire must be measured at its peak, not averaged over time.
"The whole way that the county has been addressing the noise down there is way off base," Ball said. "It is wrong."
Ball plans to include the report as part of her appeal.
The final standoff
Both Ball and Newton said they are ready for the fight to come to an end.
Residents have spent years fighting the county to shut down the range. They've made countless phone calls to the development department and in some cases spent thousands of dollars on lawyers and consultants.
"It's taken a toll. I'm exhausted, and I'm tired of doing this," she said.
Given that the residents lost their appeal last time, she doesn't have high hopes.
Newton is also looking for closure, although if the club wins he said it will keep working to find a compromise with the neighbours.
"I think in everybody's minds, it's not going to be resolved until the neighbours are happy and we're able to continue on," Newton said.
The neighbours will have their final chance to voice their objections before the county's subdivision and development appeal board Monday evening. The board will release its decision several days later.
