Trouble began last summer when he allowed a firearms instruction company to use the site to train its students, a commercial use that ran afoul of zoning laws in the town.
Weaponcraft, a Saco-based firearms training company, hosted about 10 classes at the pit from roughly July through September, sometimes using high-powered military-style rifles, Maietta said. A message left with Weaponcraft was not immediately returned Wednesday.
“Thousands of rounds a day were being fired up there,” Billington said. “The neighbors were very concerned.”
The town issued Weaponcraft a cease-and-desist order in September based on the zoning rules and the company has not applied for a commercial recreation permit since then, Billington said.
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Janet Lampron, one of the abutting property owners and a vocal critic of the pit’s operations, said Wednesday she was dismayed that what began as complaints against a single property had expanded to affect every property in town.
“It was just ridiculous that our little petition of 47 people to control our neighborhood went to a whole townwide thing,” Lampron said. “That was not our intention. Our intention was to control our neighborhood, not to get the whole town mad at us. I’m fine with hunting. Just not in my backyard.”
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After the committee was informed that it could not single out one property in an ordinance without exposing the town to a discrimination claim, it crafted sweeping restrictions on firearms use that would have prohibited landowners from allowing anyone else to shoot a gun on their property outside of hunting season, Billington said.
Outside of hunting season, “only a property owner could fire on his own property,” Billington said. “He couldn’t invite others in.”
