EDMONTON–Leduc County residents are firing back after developers who backed down from a proposed shotgun range returned for another round.

A petition is circulating to stop the Kloovenburg Sports Ltd. recreation facility from opening up near Thorsby, south of Edmonton, with residents citing noise and environmental concerns.

“They’re putting this gun range in the middle of this residential community,” said Arlene Heitzman, who lives with her husband Norman on a farm that borders the proposed 808-acre development.

“That’s rather unacceptable to disrupt all these families.”

The multi-sport facility would include courses for archery, mountain biking, hiking and cross-country skiing in addition to several shooting courses.

Arlene said there are 55 homes within three kilometres of the space, with farms bordering the west side and a residential area on the east.

She said it’s bad enough to occasionally have neighbours practice shooting outside, and she does not know how she would manage hearing gunshots every day.

“If you’re outside and the neighbour’s shooting, for me it just is unsettling, so I go in the house. So if I had to hear it all weekend — you wouldn’t be able to ever have company over,” she said.

The Heitzmans say their dog runs for cover whenever a shot rings out.

More than being uncomfortable, however, they worry the noise from the shooting range could affect their livelihood.

While their house is roughly 1,400 metres from the proposed facility, Norman said the cows they depend on for a living pasture right up to where the properties meet.

“They could be within 100 metres of the shooting site,” he said.

“It will disrupt them.”

The couple also worries that having shotguns stored on the site could invite crime.

Kloovenburg Sports Ltd. owner Wayne Norton and manager Carl Brewster put forth a proposal last spring for the same plot of land, near Range Road 12A and Township Road 501A.

Leduc County issued a partial approval with a number of conditions, including a requirement to scale back the shooting areas.

Residents and landowners appealed the decision, but the applicants cancelled their approval before the appeal and went back to the drawing board.

Six weeks ago, they submitted a new plan that county officials will decide on Aug. 10.

Many still stand firmly against the revised design.

The Heitzmans are part of a committee that launched a petition opposing the development.

Last year, they got 150 signatures out of the roughly 200 residents in the area. This year, they expect similar numbers.

Several residents told StarMetro they worry lead from shotgun pellets will contaminate the land and seep into Strawberry Creek, which runs through the property and into the North Saskatchewan River, where Edmonton and surrounding communities get their drinking water.

Bruce Tegart, who owns property near the proposed facility, said several of his neighbours have told him they will move if it goes ahead.

Personally, he worries it will degrade the value of his acreage.

He said nobody would oppose a sports facility without the shooting ranges.

“We all have guns. We all hunt. We all protect our livestock, because we have cougars and bears walking around out there right now. A lot of the farmers travel around with a .30-30 or a shotgun or something,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We’re not opposed to guns. We just don’t want a shotgun range or a rifle range in our backyard.”

Kloovenburg Sports Ltd. manager Brewster said his team has addressed lead concerns by moving the shooting courses further from the creek than initially proposed.

He said the new plan is as environmentally friendly as possible and follows the United States Environmental Protection Act’s Best Lead Management Practices.

As for noise, he said a third-party expert measured shotgun sounds leaving the facility at 70 dB.

“Anybody could look at it and say that this new design is bulletproof, if you will,” Brewster said.

He said Kloovenburg could be used to train athletes in Olympic sports and would also be used by fishing and gaming groups, boy scouts, cadets and schools.

“There is a lot of people that are waiting for this to happen.”

Brewster suspects some residents don’t want to see the land developed because no one has lived on the property for more than 60 years. County residents have made it their own by establishing trails for walking, quadding and snowmobiling.

What some don’t realize, he said, is that Norton owns the property.

“We’re getting a lot of anger just because they can no longer use that piece of property like their own property,” he said.

“But I don’t think it would really matter where something like this would go in, you’re always going to get those that are opposed and those that are for.”

Brewster said he and Norton have already spent more than $2 million in testing, but he does not know how much the whole thing will cost to build.

If approved, he said the facility will take up to five years to complete.

Lindsay Darling, who lives in the residential area neighbouring the development, knows Brewster personally and is among the residents who support Kloovenburg.

Darling said she is confident the developers have done their due diligence mitigating noise and environmental issues and added that the facility could bring new life to the area.

“There’s a lot of businesses that have been closing down and it’s scary to see in a small town. And I think this is going to bring a lot (of business here). Anything from people staying in hotels and eating in Leduc, and driving through Calmar for fuel, coming through Thorsby for all kinds of things,” she said.

“I think it will be a great facility for a lot of people in the community. We do not have activities out here, so to add business and activity would be wonderful.”

Leduc County spokesperson Lindsay Chambers said in a statement that county officials will make a decision based on the development’s planning merits and conformance to its Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw.

She added that officials will review and consider any comments “made by any person, body or board” during the decision-making process.

Read more about: