HomeMy WebLinkAbout54 Stein11/13/2019 JCC Titles 8 and 18, regarding commercial shooti... - Planning Commission Desk
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JCC Titles 8 and 18, regarding commercial shooting ranges
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Greetings,
First, thank you for serving on the Planning Commission and for demonstrating your concern for the future of the rural areas of our County.
When you first were tasked with making recommendation to the BOCC regarding commercial shooting ranges, your recommendations
were well considered and would have significantly improved Titles 8 and 18 had the BOCC not chosen to ignore your recommendations and
the testimony which helped shape them. My family is deeply grateful that the Growth Management Hearings Board has given us a second
chance.
While I am very much sympathetic to the concerns of those who live near the site of the proposed Cedar Hills quasi-military encampment,
my concern reaches to all of the rural areas of our County, over 70,000 acres. My family lives in an area surrounded by large blocks of
commercial forest land, land which is, in the mind of the BOCC, ideally suited for commercial shooting activity. Were a development such as
Cedar Hills to be sited in our neighborhood, the value of our land would plummet with respect to everything that brought me and my
family to rural Jefferson County over forty years ago.
Titles 8 and 18 are so permissive towards commercial shooting ranges that we are at risk of becoming a mecca for those whose work and
play puts high powered weapons in their hands. How ironic it is that politically liberal Jefferson County has adopted policies more
supportive of shooting ranges than Kitsap County, the political culture of which is long associated with the US Navy.
If there are to be commercial shooting ranges established in the comparative safety and quiet of the rural areas of our County, at least
require:
1. No shooting between 17:00 and 08:00.
2. No military or paramilitary training.
3. No aircraft of any sort, either landing on site or in support of firearm activity.
4. Allow only suitable caliber hunting rifles and handguns.
5. 500 foot setback from property lines and water bodies.
6. A maximum db threshold at the property boundaries of a shooting range.
7. Only three outdoor ranges allowed, with additional ranges being located indoors.
As a registered nurse with over forty years of experience in our County, I recognize the association between psychological and physical
health. Obviously, one of the threats to our well being from shooting ranges is stray bullets. But another threat, a more insidious threat, is
loud and frequent noise, such as gunfire, which has been demonstrated many times over by environmental health specialists to be injurious
to our health. The beauty of our County is not merely scenic, that which we can see, but the soundscape, the quiet which brought many of
us here and keeps us here and keeps us healthy. It is easily destroyed. Please do not let that happen.
Sincerely,
Emmy Lou Stein, R.N.
Van Trojen Road, Chimacum
POB 261
Chimacum 98325
Emmy Lou Stein <lapforautumn@gmail.com>
Thu 11/7/2019 8:46 PM
To:Planning Commission Desk <PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us>;
Cc:Phil and Emmy Lou <inthewoods@olympus.net>;