Residents packed the meeting chambers to oppose the proposed range.

Plans for a multi-million-dollar shooting range north of Sanderson failed to gain approval from the county’s Land Planning Agency June 24.

More than 30 residents in the area appeared before the LPA board to protest a special exception request to permit the shooting range in an agricultural zoning district and a variance request to the county’s noise ordinance prohibiting sounds above 55 decibels at the property’s perimeter.

The roughly 200-acre site’s owner, Roberts Land & Timber Investment Corp. of Lake Butler, asked the county to allow noises of 100 decibels to accommodate a 1000-yard shooting range and a second small-arms range measuring about 300 yards.

Roberts Land & Timber’s attorney Hugh Fish said the roughly $3 million facility being planned by the Gateway Rifle & Pistol Club of Jacksonville would include roads, rest rooms and other amenities.

The range would be open to the public, not just the gun club’s 2000-plus members, added Ron Bart, one of a handful of Gateway’s governing board members to attend the 7:00 pm hearing.

“We need to expand,” Mr. Bart said.

In recent years, growth in southwest Jacksonville has been encroaching on the club’s Zambito Avenue range just south of Herlong Airport, resulting in the need to expand elsewhere, said Mr. Fish.
The new location is being planned on the east side of CR 229, about 4.5 miles north of US 90. The nearest home lies about two miles from the proposed range.

And while a shooting range ranked as one of the most-wanted recreational venues in a 2008 survey of local citizens, many living in the area asked LPA board members to deny special exception and variance requests.

In addition to the decibel cap, shooting ranges in Baker County must have projectile-proof backstops at least 15 feet high, not constitute a nuisance or pose hazards to life or property, open no earlier than a half-hour after sunrise, close no later than a half-hour before sunset, and comply with design and safety standards of the National Rifle Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and Amateur Top Shooting Association.

County planning director Ed Preston recommended approval of the special exception permitting the range in the agricultural zoning district, but recommended denial of the 100-decibel variance due to “a health risk hazard for citizens.”

But, Mr. Preston wrote in a memo to LPA members, with a 90-decibel limit, signage along CR 229 warning passersby of the potential for loud noise, a berm to absorb some of the noise and no weapons above 50 caliber except pistols and muzzle loaders, he would recommend approval.

Despite those measures, residents within a few miles of the proposed range opposed it citing annoying noise from gun shots, additional traffic and concerns about public safety as reasons for opposing the requests.

“I enjoy it out there because of the serenity,” said resident Burton Bishop. “And what they want to do will take that away.”

Mr. Bart dismissed many of the complaints based on conditions at Gateway’s existing range.

“It doesn’t seem to affect the area we’re in, because they’re building new homes,” he said in reference to two new subdivisions being constructed nearby.

He also attempted to quell the safety concerns.

Today, the property for the proposed range is used for hunting, which Mr. Bart said poses more danger than a shooting range would.

“There’s no better place for a child to learn to shoot than a controlled firing range,” he said.
“We’re not Duval County,” responded Patty Harvey. “We are Baker County. We live here for a reason, that’s been greatly expressed here ... Those people that moved near the gun range had a choice. The people living in north Sanderson don’t.”

Addressing the potential for nuisance noise, Mr. Fish said decibel levels from 80 and 100 are emitted by many instruments in the high school band.

“It’s not a problem for our children,” he said. “It should not be a problem for the county.”

The LPA board, with four members present, voted 3-1 to deny the property owner’s requests.

Chairman C.J. Thompson cast the dissenting vote, saying later that with a berm and the distance between the range and residents homes, he believed the range wouldn’t pose a nuisance. He also said the county’s 55-decibel limit was too restrictive.

“If I start my lawn mower up next to my property line, I’m violating the ordinance,” he said.
It was unclear early this week whether Roberts Land & Timber would appeal the LPA’s decision to the Baker County Commission.

President Avery Roberts said he would do so at the request of the gun club.

“We’ve asked that, if they want to appeal, they have an expert sound test done on the site as well as all the areas around there and invite the folks that attended the meeting to observe,” he said. “Then we’ll see where we go from there.”