HomeMy WebLinkAbout202 Ball11/13/2019 Re: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 re... - Planning Commission Desk
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Re: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 revised 11.05.2019 -
Invitation to edit
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Hi Nicole,
Thank you for letting me know that I had totally screwed up that attempt to provide a comment. More than one thing went sideways with
that. I am grateful for the opportunity to correct my mistakes. Perhaps it will be better if I just copy and paste the message here (since I
can't get the PDF thing to cooperate)....
ZON18-00036 11.16.2018 Jean Ball, revised 11.05.2019
Commercial Shoo ng Facility Title 18 Proposed Dra Amendments
I appreciate and value the proposed amendments to tle 18 supplied by staff for considera on by the BoCC and Planning
Commission. I would like a few other issues considered.
18.20.030 (8)(d) Says shoo ng areas should be surrounded by 8’high earthen berm, wall or depression. While that may be
sufficient for a non-commercial shoo ng facility in someone’s backyard, it is not sufficient for a commercial shoo ng facility
with higher volumes of paid guests who are firing from mul ple points over the course of unspecified hours of the day. I
propose that all commercial shoo ng facili es be required to have no less than 8’ high solid fences which are sight obscure
and which surround the perimeter of the property boundary, fully enclosing the facility and set back 25’ from the property
boundary (just as is required by marijuana producers in Jefferson County). Such a fencing requirement would help prevent
unauthorized access by humans and wildlife and it would also prevent stray projec les from leaving the subject property.
This fencing should be accompanied by a “Screen-A” style landscaping plan as men oned in the next paragraph.
18.30.130 Talks about landscape screening for business land uses in Jefferson County. I propose that all commercial shoo ng
facili es be required to plant and maintain a “Screen-A” landscape plan which shall be located around the property
boundary. This “Screen-A” landscape plan should be no less than 10’ in width and be accompanied by an 8’ high sight
obscure solid fence which shall be set back no less than 25’ from the property boundary as men oned in the previous
paragraph.
18.40.530 Speaks about approval criteria of business land use. Hours of opera on for commercial shoo ng facili es should
be carefully curtailed so as to protect the neighboring proper es useful enjoyment of their land, the harmonious and
appropriate design of the rural character, and to avoid detrimental use of proper es in the vicinity. Failure to specify hours
of opera on will result in significant adverse impacts to the human and natural environment in the vicinity. The term
“vicinity ” should be defined to mean any loca on which is impacted in any manner as detected by any of the 5 senses (sight,
sound, smell, touch, taste). Hours of business opera on which impact the environment or humans in the vicinity should be
severely limited to standard bankers’ hours.
Jean Ball <gnarleydogfarm@gmail.com>
Wed 11/13/2019 1:14 PM
To:Planning Commission Desk <PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us>;
11/13/2019 Re: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 re... - Planning Commission Desk
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Staff proposal to allow indoor commercial shoo ng facili es on any R/R parcel is a terrible idea and will likely be met with an
overwhelming outpouring of opposi on from the community. Rightly so.
18.20.350 (1)(a) Small Scale Recrea onal and Tourist Uses says that aerial recrea onal ac vi es such as balloon rides, glider
and parachute events shall be allowed land uses. It does not say that motorized aircra shall be allowed. Yes, I realize that
glider and parachute events require the use of a motorized aircra , but the term “events” precludes these motorized aircra
from being an allowed use on a regular or constant basis and “tourist uses” suggests to me that it is a summer me ac vity
only. The spirit of the JCC is clear to me, regular use of motorized aircra is an unwelcome land use in this neck of the
woods. Given the poten ally significant impacts to the useful enjoyment of property owners’ land, helicopters should be
prohibited outright, with the excep on of emergency evacua on. Further, 18.70.060 (5) specifies that one of the exempt
noises are “aircra in flight or flight opera ons at airports and airfields”. I do not believe any designated forest land in
Jefferson County should be used as an airfield or airport. Therefore, aircra ’s righ ul place is at the airport, not at a
commercial shoo ng facility, and not in conjunc on with a co age industry permit on an undesignated business loca on.
18.20.350 (8)(e) Specifies that the minimum lot size for a rifle range shall be 10 acres. That strikes me as woefully
inadequate. If we consider the fact that projec les may travel several miles, the fact that sound travels several miles, that
lead contamina on travels in the ground, air and surface water and that 10 acres is just a ny piece of land for such
ac vi es, I am not at all sa sfied with that par cular por on of JCC. Please add a zero and make the minimum lot size 100
acres for rifle ranges.
18.20.350 Small Scale recrea on and Tourist Uses is clearly not the right place to put a commercial shoo ng facility.
Mul ple firing points at commercial shoo ng facili es should be limited to no more than 8, with a maximum of 4 persons
firing at any given me.
Destruc ve devices as defined in 18US 921 should not be permi ed at any me in Jefferson County.
“Minimal impacts” are not those which degrade the environment, create sound pollu on, destroy residents’ peaceful
enjoyment of the lakes, or create hos lity in the community.
“Leisure or recrea onal in nature” is not commercial or military. It is not a facility which pollutes water or air with lead dust
or slugs.
The watershed aquifer capacity allowance and allowable water rights should be considered when determining the allowable
loca ons for commercial shoo ng facili es. Sub-basins with extremely limited reserves and poten al for future water rights
to be granted should be grounds for denial of permit applica ons for commercial shoo ng facili es. For example, my home
is above the Tarboo sub-basin. The Department of Ecology only has about half a dozen more water rights to grant in my
region, and there is a maximum allowable volume measured in gallons. If Jefferson County permits a business to use all the
remaining water volume rights, no more homes will be allowed in my region. We need homes desperately in this area. We
do not need more commercial shoo ng facili es. Allowing a private enterprise to snuff out the ability for landowners to
build homes and gain water rights to supply their homes is unacceptable and incompa ble land use.
Jefferson County’s crown jewel is our natural environment. We live here to immerse ourselves in the natural wonders that
exist in this region. We cherish our shorelines, our waterways, our mountains, our lakes, our streams, our wildlife and our
11/13/2019 Re: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 re... - Planning Commission Desk
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peaceful enjoyment of those things. We only have 10 small public lakes in Jefferson County. Those lakes are a source of
calm. We swim, fish, and boat in those pris ne lakes. Many of those lakes don’t allow motorized boats so why would we
allow the unrelen ng disturbances of commercial shoo ng facili es (I’m not talking about hunters) to permanently destroy
our peaceful enjoyment of these natural treasures with unrelen ng gunfire? NO! This is not acceptable. This is not
reasonable use of land and should not be allowed to exist within several miles of any of our lakes. 500 yards is nowhere
near sufficient and that is not even being proposed by staff. I hope our Commissioners come to their senses on this issue and
protect our lakes more thoroughly than the Cri cal Areas Ordinance does because 150’ setback is a joke.
Respec ully submi ed this 16th day of November, 2018, minor revision November 5, 2019
Jean Ball
On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 4:20 PM Planning Commission Desk <PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us> wrote:
?Jean,
The county does not have a google account to be able to open this document. Please reply with a pdf of the document you would like to
submit.
Thanks!
Nicole Allen
Office Coordinator
Jefferson County Department of Community Development
621 Sheridan Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Phone: (360) 379-4483
________________________________
From: Jean Ball <gnarleydogfarm@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 11:29 AM
To: Planning Commission Desk
Subject: Fwd: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 revised 11.05.2019 - Invitation to edit
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Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Subject: Commercial shooting facilities 11.16.2018 revised 11.05.2019
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