CORRECTION: I have reason to correct what I wrote below about caliber limits and hours of operation: in a most recent report I saw yesterday, Keyah Grande chose to voluntarily set maximum caliber limits of .375. They have also therein stated they hope to operate from 9am to dusk. These are both a change from what I quoted which was based on what they stated in the first public hearing on September 26. I regret not having seen that report before my submission to the Daily Post.
You may be still reeling from the election.
But before you put away your boxing gloves and first aid kit, please know your effort is needed to fight for another extremely urgent matter impacting your neighbors, your property values and your ability to enjoy your life in your own backyard.
A very serious issue right here in your home town that deserves your attention. Please carve out an hour of your evening tomorrow, Thursday, November 21, at 6pm to go to the Planning Commission meeting at the County Administration building, 398 Lewis St, downtown Pagosa.
The Archuleta County Planning Commission has their feet to the fire as they try to make an informed decision about whether to deny an application for a shooting range illegally built in a residential section of our county by a landowner seeking to make a few extra dollars. The pressure on the Planning Commissions comes from the fact that our local law enforcement agencies, local county government, and the landowner have been conspiring to keep the public from knowing about the project from the start.
A recent conversation I had with County Commissioner Medina revealed that Sheriff Le Roux secured financial funding from various sources via grants and has been involved in the design, and construction of the project since its infancy.
It is my humble opinion there is a conflict of interest for our County to be ruling on this issue since they are already so financially invested in it.
According to the original proposal presented by the applicant the shooting range is to be for local law enforcement so they have a place to keep current with their shooting skills, and for certified instructors to take their students applying for concealed carry permits to do their range testing, and that was it. No glorified visions of creating a commercial business operating a destination shooting range for people to come to from across the globe.
The original proposal has been hijacked and remodified to resemble very little what they wanted in the beginning. Now, it is intended to be operated 365 days a year, open from dawn until dusk, shooting stations for 20 shooters at a time, no restriction on caliber size for firearms. Heck, even 50 caliber machine guns are welcome, The louder the better.
The amount of noise generated by a facility of this kind is like that of a military firing range. A residential neighborhood is no place for a facility like this. An industrial park is a suitable location. Or for this landowner, if they are attempting to be considerate to their neighbors, a location removed from the exterior boundaries of the property would be appropriate. For example, the entire southeastern aspect of Devil Mountain is located inside the confines of the applicant’s property. Instead of selecting one of many sites at the interior of the ranch, or on the remote slopes of Devil Mountain, the shooting range is situated where the only negative impacts are experienced by the neighbors.
It is up to us, the neighboring property owners, the general public, the voters, and citizens of Pagosa to make sure the Planning Commission knows we are not willing to sit idly by while they decide for us what they think is best.
This shooting range will cause the neighbors material and financial injury from lowered property values. And should we decide to sell our property because of the horribly noisy and disruptive neighbor the property will languish on the market because NO ONE WANTS TO LIVE NEXT TO A SHOOTING RANGE. Even your most avid gun fanatic goes home to their quiet haven when they’re done at the shooting range.
NO ONE WANTS TO LIVE NEXT TO A SHOOTING RANGE!
Here’s the thing about this matter that the County doesn’t want you to know: the Planning Commission doesn’t have to approve this application. The County is portraying this matter as a ‘done deal’ but it is not. They are bullying everybody into believing it is a done deal. Why are they doing this? Because the wealthy applicant is bullying them.
Just like in every aspect of life, the poop rolls downhill.
The applicant has a ranch that is more than 4000 acres of private land. The amount of property the applicant owns on Devil Mountain is larger than the amount of the rest of the ranch. They have so much property over there they could build 10 shooting ranges and still be a mile away from the nearest neighbor. Instead, they chose to build the range where the only negative effects are to the neighbors next door and across the street.
Thirty five neighbors across the street, two on the same side of the street, and hundreds of neighbors in Aspen Springs all will experience negative effects: on their property values, and on their emotional, mental and physical health from being exposed to the barrage of gun battles being waged all day, every day by their neighbor. This will go on every waking hour, all day long, every day of the week, forever and ever.
Is our government willing to condemn all of us to that type of torture just so one landowner can make a few extra bucks? The amount of tax revenue to the County that will be lost annually because of neighboring and nearby property values sagging will far exceed the pittance of tax revenue the county will ever see from the operation of the shooting range. How, you say? Because this shooting range is an ‘agricultural business’. It will pay next to nothing to the county in taxes. Forever and ever it will pay next to nothing in tax dollars. And all the while, forever and ever, the nearby property owners will watch the value of their dream property take a nose dive.
Imagine yourself sitting outside on your deck on some fabulous Pagosa sunny day enjoying your favorite beverage and snack. The sun shining, the birds singing, the deer moving silently across the scenery. It’s glorious. That is what will be taken away from all of us. The applicant is seeking to operate the shooting range from dawn until dusk, 365 days a year, nonstop gunfire, a hectic gun battle in a war being waged on your emotional, mental, physical, and physiological self. Forever and ever.
I’m reminded so much of Bonnie and Clyde when I give this issue the attention it deserves. How, do you say? Bonnie and Clyde stole from their neighbors by stealing their neighbors’ money from the bank. They were crazy about guns. How is the shooting range applicant doing the same? Here’s how: I took my money and faith and bought a piece of land, sank my sweat and tears into it by cleaning it up, making it viable grazing land, and picked out the site to build my house. It’s as good as putting money in the bank. A perfect plan for a piece of land fit for agricultural use in a quiet neighborhood zoned as residential.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it? It is…
…until…
…until one landowner in the neighborhood decides to go against the nature of all the surrounding properties in the valley. He builds a shooting range without any permit and begins emitting industrial levels of noise from a piece of his property directly across the street from the residential neighborhood.. A piece of his property so far removed from his residence that he will never experience any of the negative impacts from the shooting range he so desperately wants.
If this application is approved one landowner will steal the hard earned money, the retirement nest egg of the neighbors who invested in their land and trusted the government to defend against illegal development. That applicant, with the help from government officials, is stealing from his neighbors.
The applicant keeps referring to how he is building community by building the shooting range. The way he has chosen to proceed with the project is totally the opposite. He is destroying the very fabric of the community that surrounds him. There is no olive branch. Only the pits.
Please attend the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow, Thursday, November 21, at 6pm at the County Administration building, 398 Lewis St, downtown Pagosa. Share your opinion about the unfair, unjust, improper proposal this applicant is submitting. This is your time to be part of the process and have your voices heard.
If it gets approved you may never hear your own thoughts again. They’ll be drowned out by gunfire.
Jennifer Burck
Pagosa Springs