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Metscape: Gun club knows neighbors can't help listening
Bill McAuliffe
Published Jan. 12, 2003 SCAP12
Pretty soon, there will be neighbors close enough to read the fine print on the sign at the gate of the Plymouth Gun Club:
The Sound From Shotguns Can Be Heard For A Considerable Distance.
"We know there's going to be problems down the road," said club President Tom Kotarski. The "Notice to New Neighbors," he said, was a pro active gesture, put up "so that people don't come in, buy a house and say, 'We didn't know this gun club was here.' "
For more than 40 years, the gun club, which is on 20 acres, has been surrounded by woods and fields.
Now bulldozers are drawing a knot of curving streets right up to the club's entrance.
In recent years, many gun clubs around the state have been either shut down as unneighborly nuisances or sold for redevelopment. Legislative attempts to protect shooting ranges have stalled. Finding new sites is difficult in the face of predictable opposition, and Kotarski said members of the Plymouth club are adamant that the range isn't for sale.
Meanwhile, the club is open three afternoons a week. On busy days such as this past Wednesday, there could be up to 750 shotgun blasts an hour from folks aiming (away from housing and) at flying clay pigeons.
Kotarski and Plymouth community development director Anne Hurlburt said they haven't received any complaints about noise from residents of new homes now only about 300 yards away. Buyers of the homes going up near the club, meanwhile, will be asked by the developer to sign a "Gun Club Addendum" to their purchase agreements indicating they know they're aware of the
Kotarski said he envisions the day when neighbors will want to hike through the wooded ravine that borders one side of the club, just beyond shooting range. He said the club might have a member stroll through the area with a megaphone -- town crier-like -- announcing when firing is about to commence.
"We're trying to be pro active here," he said. "We certainly don't want anyone to get hurt out here, but we don't want to go away."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1689/3585241.html
Bill McAuliffe
Published Jan. 12, 2003 SCAP12
Pretty soon, there will be neighbors close enough to read the fine print on the sign at the gate of the Plymouth Gun Club:
The Sound From Shotguns Can Be Heard For A Considerable Distance.
"We know there's going to be problems down the road," said club President Tom Kotarski. The "Notice to New Neighbors," he said, was a pro active gesture, put up "so that people don't come in, buy a house and say, 'We didn't know this gun club was here.' "
For more than 40 years, the gun club, which is on 20 acres, has been surrounded by woods and fields.
Now bulldozers are drawing a knot of curving streets right up to the club's entrance.
In recent years, many gun clubs around the state have been either shut down as unneighborly nuisances or sold for redevelopment. Legislative attempts to protect shooting ranges have stalled. Finding new sites is difficult in the face of predictable opposition, and Kotarski said members of the Plymouth club are adamant that the range isn't for sale.
Meanwhile, the club is open three afternoons a week. On busy days such as this past Wednesday, there could be up to 750 shotgun blasts an hour from folks aiming (away from housing and) at flying clay pigeons.
Kotarski and Plymouth community development director Anne Hurlburt said they haven't received any complaints about noise from residents of new homes now only about 300 yards away. Buyers of the homes going up near the club, meanwhile, will be asked by the developer to sign a "Gun Club Addendum" to their purchase agreements indicating they know they're aware of the
Kotarski said he envisions the day when neighbors will want to hike through the wooded ravine that borders one side of the club, just beyond shooting range. He said the club might have a member stroll through the area with a megaphone -- town crier-like -- announcing when firing is about to commence.
"We're trying to be pro active here," he said. "We certainly don't want anyone to get hurt out here, but we don't want to go away."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1689/3585241.html
