Noise concerns over gun range in Burton, MI

BURTON, MI — The site of a proposed 106-acre indoor and outdoor shooting range near the intersection of Genesee and Davison roads in Burton is drawing fire from residents ahead of a planning commission meeting next week on a  request for a special use permit.

Chip Atkinson and Jeff Swyrtek, former employee and manager at Advanced Ranges shooting range on Center Road that closed at the end of June, have a preliminary plan for the business that would include an indoor facility, skeet shooting, as well as outdoor ranges for pistols, rifles, a pistol/rifle transition course and rifle movement course.

“We had CPL classes, defensive shooting classes,” said Atkinson, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Flint native, noting law enforcement from the University of Michigan-Flint, Mott Community College, Kettering University, City of Flint and Flint Bishop Airport used Advanced Ranges facility along with the public.

After completing his concealed pistol license class at the former Center Road range, Atkinson began working at Advanced in November. With the range closing less than a year later, Atkinson said he wanted to create “An outdoor and training and indoor training site for everybody in the community where they could do that without people being in the way. This would be a safe environment for them.”

But residents who live along Genesee Road and within eyesight of the heavily wood property say the business would disrupt their peaceful setting. Carrie Skagg lives across from proposed site and was concerned about the noise that could emanate from the firing of weapons.

“My dogs get going over fireworks,” she said. She’s one of the residents living within 300 feet of the proposed site to receive a notification for the 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, planning commission at Burton City Hall. “They’re going to go crazy over the pow, pow, pow.”    

Skaggs added, “I would find it hard to believe anybody in this area would be for it. We’re really annoyed and hoping it won’t pass.”

Atkinson said there would be 22 acres between Genesee Road and the facility, with the preliminary plan showing more than 39 acres between the main road and gun range.

The plan also shows 400 feet from Genesee Road on the vacant land to a proposed 82-space parking lot at the range.

The tree line by the road would remain, Atkinson said, along with berms around the outdoor shooting areas. Resident Joe Couturier questioned the need for another gun range in the area, stating “Get something like an office space over there.”

Hal Lindsay, association vice president for Cross Creek Condominiums off Genesee Road and south of the proposed site, argued there are too many people living in the residents in the area, and the business would be better suited in an open, country setting as opposed to city land.

“Of all the things they would have in the area, why a shooting range?” he said.

Atkinson said he understood the noise concerns, having lived a mile or so from a shooting range while in the military.

“I understand the noise, and it’s not as bad as they think,” he said, adding there would be no impact at For-Mar Nature Preserve at the northeast corner of Genesee and Davison roads. “It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s not going to be as obnoxious as they think it’s going to be.”

If the special use is approved by the planning commission, Burton zoning official Amber Abbey said the planning commission would lay out the parameters the range would have to meet and approve a site plan before the decision would be final. The city has no ordinances pertaining to outdoor gun ranges.

Having discussed other potential locations for the range — all of them outside Genesee County — Atkinson said, “I’d rather keep it local, where I’m close to it” and offer a closer option for residents. It would employ around 20 people and bring people to the area that would use nearby businesses.

“We need the jobs, we need the tax revenue,” he said. “I hear everybody complaining about not having stuff and then we have something and it gets shot down. I hope they support the military, the police, the law enforcement, but we’ll see,” Atkinson said.
Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/07/proposed_outdoor_gun_range_in.html

So let’s address the complains:

1. “My dogs get going over fireworks”
Really? Do hunting dogs go crazy over the “pow, pow, pow”?

2. “I would find it hard to believe anybody in this area would be for it. We’re really annoyed and hoping it won’t pass.”
I feel the same way about tattoo parlors, yoga studios, tanning salons, and plenty of other places that don’t make sense to me. Guess what? It’s a free country. You don’t have to come if you don’t like it.

3. “Of all the things they would have in the area, why a shooting range?”
Gee, I don’t know, maybe because police and civilians need to practice their shooting skills? Maybe because country areas like Burton are full of gun owners? Supply and demand!