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http://www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,205%7E12220%7E2057382,00.html?search=filter
Residents take aim at longtime gun club
By Diana L. Roemer
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 01, 2004 - AZUSA --
A resident of a cozy mountain housing tract by the San Gabriel River said he bought his homes to get away from city noise, not move closer to it.
But six days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., the idyllic coves of upper Azusa are peppered with the rat-a-tat tat of gunfire from the longtime San Gabriel Valley Gun Club as members take target practice.
The gun club has been at the same location since 1946 in the foothills at 4001 Fish Canyon Road in Azusa, but on the Duarte side of the river.
Now, Mountain Cove resident Bill Coats has appealed to the Azusa City Council and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte to make it go away. "If you're a half-mile from the river it's like a war zone,' Coats said.
Gun club spokesman Dale Price said the club has a right by law to be there. "We're sorry, but we were here first,' Price said.
He said the club has tried to accommodate those who are bothered by the noise. Club members once stopped shooting a cannon when someone complained, he said.
Michael Battaglia, a spokesman for Mountain Cove builder Standard Homes, said buyers were warned about the gun range, which leases its land from Vulcan Materials.
Coats said he saw those warnings but times have changed and the club should get out because so many homes are within earshot. "Sometimes it sounds like there's 40 people out there and they all have machine guns. It's just rifling, rifling, rifling,' he said.
The noise has been an issue for more than a decade with area homeowners, even those at older developments in the lower canyon, said Mirador Development resident Nancy Fairchild. She has shrugged off the gun noise for eight years.
"I knew it was there. There are those who complain about it but there are some people who are not going to like a lot of things,' Fairchild said.
Many of Coats' neighbors and the city's mayor say it is time for the 530-member club to move somewhere else because there are many new homes in the canyons affected by it.
'I don't like it,' said resident Jane Galvan. "We would support them going away,' said resident Dianne Mallon. Azusa Mayor Cristina Madrid said the council is going to see about getting the lease terminated. "For a million years there were not a lot of residents up there. We'd like to terminate the lease of the gun club. We just haven't defined a clear path to do that,' Madrid said.
Vulcan spokesman Todd Spitler said the relationship with the club is good, but Vulcan wants to maintain good relationships with neighbors, too. The company will work with the City Council on the issue and recognizes a gun club is a "controversial tenant.'
Coats said it's a problem that needs to be addressed. 'It's kind of like the 600-pound gorilla in the room. Everyone knows it's an issue but nobody does anything about it,' Coats said.
-- Diana L. Roemer can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2105, or by e-mail at [email protected]
Residents take aim at longtime gun club
By Diana L. Roemer
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 01, 2004 - AZUSA --
A resident of a cozy mountain housing tract by the San Gabriel River said he bought his homes to get away from city noise, not move closer to it.
But six days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., the idyllic coves of upper Azusa are peppered with the rat-a-tat tat of gunfire from the longtime San Gabriel Valley Gun Club as members take target practice.
The gun club has been at the same location since 1946 in the foothills at 4001 Fish Canyon Road in Azusa, but on the Duarte side of the river.
Now, Mountain Cove resident Bill Coats has appealed to the Azusa City Council and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte to make it go away. "If you're a half-mile from the river it's like a war zone,' Coats said.
Gun club spokesman Dale Price said the club has a right by law to be there. "We're sorry, but we were here first,' Price said.
He said the club has tried to accommodate those who are bothered by the noise. Club members once stopped shooting a cannon when someone complained, he said.
Michael Battaglia, a spokesman for Mountain Cove builder Standard Homes, said buyers were warned about the gun range, which leases its land from Vulcan Materials.
Coats said he saw those warnings but times have changed and the club should get out because so many homes are within earshot. "Sometimes it sounds like there's 40 people out there and they all have machine guns. It's just rifling, rifling, rifling,' he said.
The noise has been an issue for more than a decade with area homeowners, even those at older developments in the lower canyon, said Mirador Development resident Nancy Fairchild. She has shrugged off the gun noise for eight years.
"I knew it was there. There are those who complain about it but there are some people who are not going to like a lot of things,' Fairchild said.
Many of Coats' neighbors and the city's mayor say it is time for the 530-member club to move somewhere else because there are many new homes in the canyons affected by it.
'I don't like it,' said resident Jane Galvan. "We would support them going away,' said resident Dianne Mallon. Azusa Mayor Cristina Madrid said the council is going to see about getting the lease terminated. "For a million years there were not a lot of residents up there. We'd like to terminate the lease of the gun club. We just haven't defined a clear path to do that,' Madrid said.
Vulcan spokesman Todd Spitler said the relationship with the club is good, but Vulcan wants to maintain good relationships with neighbors, too. The company will work with the City Council on the issue and recognizes a gun club is a "controversial tenant.'
Coats said it's a problem that needs to be addressed. 'It's kind of like the 600-pound gorilla in the room. Everyone knows it's an issue but nobody does anything about it,' Coats said.
-- Diana L. Roemer can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2105, or by e-mail at [email protected]
