City council has approved a zoning change for what will be a first-of-its-kind shooting range in Canada.

The Edmonton Shooting Centre plans to build a new indoor range in an industrial park at 12150-160th Street, with an eight-lane, 100-metre indoor range.

The range will also include 25-meter ranges, classrooms, a lounge and retail space.

General manager Hans Brink said the range will be the largest in western Canada.

"We've got snow six months of the year, so six months of the year we can be open," he said.

Brink said the new range will fill a void left by the closure of the Spruce Grove Gun Club, which was shut down by Parkland County due to complaints from neighbouring residents over noise and stray bullets.

He said Spruce Grove had nearly 1,000 members who now need somewhere to shoot. Anyone with a restricted firearm, like a handgun or semi-automatic weapon, must be affiliated with a range or gun club.

"I'm hoping that we'll be able to capture some of them in the new year when our range opens," Brink said.

He also hopes to attract military and law-enforcement training programs that previously used the Spruce Grove Gun Club.

Brink said the Edmonton Shooting Centre will be a building-within-a-building to prevent stray bullets and noise from bothering neighbours.

There are currently two indoor ranges in Edmonton: the Phoenix in the city's southeast and the Wild West Shooting Centre in West Edmonton Mall.

The newest range will be much larger and will accommodate larger weapons, Brink said.

Construction will begin once the sale of the building is finalized, with the range expected to open in March 2016.

Alberta's chief firearms officer, responsible for approving new ranges, has already been consulted. Final approval from the CFO will be determined once the range is ready to open.