Apparently in Idaho established ranges can expand and cities and counties have no say in the matter. Even if state law changes, the ranges are grandfathered in. I hadn't heard about this law before and have no idea how long it's been in affect.
The range is about 1 air mile from town. I've never been there and have no idea which direction the lead flies but there are farms within 1/4 mile in any direction.
HAGERMAN — “My sister told me I have a beautiful yard. Too bad there’s a war zone next door.”
The “war zone” Hagerman City Councilman Jay Houser describes is Shaw Shooting School, a commercial shooting range where Navy Seals and Special Ops train.
The shooting school doesn’t operate out in the desert — it operates within the gun range’s line of fire of Hagerman’s schools, four churches, the city park, the city hall and 100 or so residences.
“Our town needs to be a safe place,” Houser said Monday.
More than 200 of his neighbors agree.
A group called Citizens4Hagerman has appealed an earlier decision by the county Planning and Zoning Commission that allowed the Shaws — 27-year-old Houston Shaw, two-time Production Steel Challenge National Speed Shooting champion, and his father, John Shaw, World Speed Shooting champion in pistol and shotgun and nine-time Gold Medal winner in three World Championships — to expand the facility. Houston Shaw has not returned calls from the Times-News.
“About 7,200 rounds of ammo are discharged daily from 5.56- and .223-caliber arms that have a range of up to two miles,” Hagerman resident Kathy McKenzie wrote to the Times-News. “The noise echoing off the canyon walls, seven days a week, seven months a year, with no restrictions, remind us again that despite safety, location and noise issues to the citizens of Hagerman, the Gooding P&Z have given this special-use permit carte blanche.”
The City Council also appealed the P&Z’s decision.
Houser sounded like he’d been kicked in the gut when the Times-News contacted him about the appeal hearing scheduled for Monday.
He had just been notified that the county had canceled the hearing because a letter from the Shaws’ attorney revealed a state statute that preempts counties and cities from having any jurisdiction over established shooting ranges.
“I’ve never seen a law like this that takes the voices away from the people,” Gooding County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Pember said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Shaws have withdrawn their application, because, according to the code, they don’t need the county’s permission to expand.
“The County has no jurisdiction to regulate them, thus any action taken by the County prior to the withdrawal would be null and void, as would any action the County would take after the withdrawal,” Pember stated in the memo to the commissioners.
Apparently the city has no recourse, even if the state Legislature were to change the law. The shooting range would be grandfathered in from any change in the law.
Pember has sent the issue to the Idaho Attorney General’s office for review, to see if he had interpreted the code correctly.
An attorney for the Idaho Association of Counties has independently looked at the Sport Shooting Range Act and came the same conclusion, Pember wrote in the memo.
“He was as flabbergasted as we are that the legislature would take the voices away from the people regarding local land use planning.”
