10/16/2015

Conditional shooting-range facility license approved for Spurwink Rod and Gun Club

By unanimous vote, the Town Council on Oct. 14, 2015 approved a conditional shooting-range facility license for the Spurwink Rod and Gun Club.

It's the first license approved for any range in town under the 2014 shooting range ordinance. The ordinance was developed to provide a mechanism for regulating shooting ranges to the extent allowed by law, in response to decades of complaints from neighbors of the Spurwink Rod and Gun club, located on Sawyer Road.

In their approval, councilors were clear that the license is conditioned upon the club's proving that its facility contains 100 percent of gun shots fired. "To be clear, there will be absolutely no firing until you and the range safety expert, and I believe also with the police chief, certify that that is complete and contained?" Councilor Jessica Sullivan asked town Code Enforcement Officer Ben McDougal at the Oct. 14 meeting. Under the ordinance, the code officer is responsible for verifying security, maintenance, shot-containment and lead management. "So there would be no live fire until that has happened?" Sullivan asked.

"That's correct," McDougal said.

Live fire was suspended at the club in July when the town received a report from Rick LaRosa, a gun safety expert hired by the town to evaluate conditions at the club as part of its license application. The report said the club did not have the overhead baffling required to fully contain gunfire.

LaRosa has agreed to verify whether improvements, when completed, address security, maintenance and shot containment at the 25-yard range, the first phase planned for the club, McDougal said. He said he will consult comparable environmental experts to verify lead management at that range, and experts will also verify compliance before the 50- and 100-yard range phases are operational.

During a public comment period supporters of the Spurwink Rod and Gun club encouraged the council to approve the conditional license. Still, others from the neighboring Cross Hill subdivision asked councilors to delay any licensure until full shot-containment is demonstrated.

Prior to voting, some councilors reflected on the process leading to conditional licensure. "None of this oversight would have been possible without the ordinance, written in 2013 and approved in early 2014," said Town Councilor Sullivan. "Without that new law we would have no authority whatsoever to affect a private club on its private property," she said. "I have every confidence that our code-enforcement officer and police chief will ensure full compliance with the town law."

Jim Walsh, another councilor, compared implementation of the shooting-range ordinance with short-term rental regulations adopted in Cape Elizabeth in 2012. "It took a lot of guts, it took a lot of hard work, and it took listening to the public," Walsh said. "I believe we are going to look back on this and say it was worth the hard work, because I believe we have gone head-on into the safety issue," he said.