HomeMy WebLinkAbout100 Ball11/13/2019 Planning Commission hearing November 5th, 2019 - Planning Commission Desk
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Planning Commission hearing November 5th, 2019
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Mr Whitford,
I am writing to you today to provide comments about something I heard you say at the PC meeting on Tuesday evening which I found to
be a bit off base with regard to the title 8 & 18 review process.
You said that there would be a "safety fan", which is a 1-mile radius from the location of proposed gun ranges, to make sure you get
feedback from "those who will be affected by the gun range". Do I have that right? If so, I think it is appropriate to increase that distance by
a few miles, at a minimum.
From my perspective, if we consider that there may not even be anyone living within a mile of that gun range (as is the case with the current
proposal) but there are many people living in the 2-3 mile radius, this alone makes your statement, to my mind, an irrelevant approach. To
suggest that there will only be impacts within 1 mile of a gun range seems a bit of a stretch. Just the fact that ballistics from firearms travel
several miles, even a small gauge .22 can travel more than a mile and that is about the smallest and least powerful firearm out there, so
your suggestion makes me scratch my head. That is to say nothing of the noise which travels several miles, depending on topography and
other environmental factors. Lead slugs and atomized lead dust, especially in a critical area, will travel much further than a mile. I mean, we
are not talking about a chicken farm here. We are talking about firearms. I think it is appropriate that the consideration of impacts fit the
use of the land in question. Let's be realistic in our risk assessment and safety concerns. The risk of potentially devastating consequences
can not be measured with the same metrics for every land use in the county.
I do not know where you came up with 1 mile, but I submit to you that it is inadequate for the purposes of this discussion and I would like
to see this radius increased to a more relevant and meaningful distance which will provide an accurate representation of the impacts and
allow residents who will be impacted by this land use to weigh in on the impacts. I do not think that is asking too much.
While I am at it, I would like to dispel a misnomer brought up by an audience member at that meeting which has nothing whatsoever to do
with anything Mr Whitford said but since I have you all on the line here, I will spew my thought. A gentleman made a false equivalency
between the measurement of the sound of, what he described as the biggest gun they could get their hands on, and a lawnmower at the
edge of the property. Yes, well, that is a neat little trick he pulled there but it is misleading. The average neighbor in the city mows their lawn
weekly or bi-weekly in summer months. They do not mow it all day, every day, from dawn to dusk, all year long. Rural neighbors mostly
don't ever mow their lawns because we have livestock which mows it silently. Even farmers who hay fields only mow 3-4 times per year. Do
you see how absurd this statement is when you look at the other side of the coin? Is it reasonable to compare apples to oranges and see if
it does not feel like we are being treated like idiots?
Thank you for your consideration of my comments,
Jean Ball
Jean Ball <gnarleydogfarm@gmail.com>
Fri 11/8/2019 10:06 PM
To:Stuart Whitford <SWhitford@co.jefferson.wa.us>; jeffbocc <jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Planning Commission Desk
<PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Patty Charnas <PCharnas@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Mike Nilssen <nilssen51@gmail.com>;
Michelle Farfan <MFarfan@co.jefferson.wa.us>; J Ball Gnarley Dog Farm <gnarleydogfarm@gmail.com>;