New York: The Fate of Yaphank Shooting Range
Newsday recently reported a Yaphank shooting range is under attack by local activists who want it shut down. For two years the activists have been fighting to close the facility and they recently persuaded the town to try to use state laws to close it. They cite the range is a noise disturbance and a threat to water quality. The range has been in operation since the 1960s and in the past few years has had different vendors running the operation. Some of the activists content it’s “new development in an environmentally sensitive area, and therefore must be closed.” The town shot down the “new development” strategy, however. Other activists say the range is dangerous because lead could leach into drinking water. The range paid the county more than $43,000 in fees and revenue in 2007. If that’s not a good neighbors, what is? One of the skeet-shooting enthusiasts had a great observation: "What about the people who live near the railroad station? Should they move the railroad station?" It baffles me at times that home buyers complain after they sign the mortgage documents. Perhaps the simple, low-cost solution is to provide new home owners with ear plugs?
Comments
Thank you for posting this!
I live about a mile from this range and have shot there on many occasions. This range predates the surrounding residential parcels by decades.
The shot fall zones have been mined for lead a number of times. Further, there is public water in the area.
The folks adjacent to the range have been using every trick in the book to shut this range down, including using Richard Amper of the Pine Barrens coalition.
This is one of the few public ranges left for folks on Long Island to shoot..
What a shame...
Posted by: Bill Dalton | June 9, 2008 04:16 PM
The important element to keep in mind when driving past the houses that literally line the opposite side of the street to Suffolk Trap & Skeet is that the range predates those houses in the majority of cases by over 20 years. If local residents have a problem with noise, they should probably be taking it up with their realtor or developer. (I have shot there a couple of times and was frankly surprised by how many homes had music cranked up and how many cars drove by honking their horns randomly, apparently to upset shooters' concentration.) As to the environmental issue: again, this has been a range on and off for 40 years -- short of some major lead abatement strategy, this property is only suitable as a range. If the accumulated lead is likely to leach into residential groundwater, then again blame arguably lies with local developers and the planning commission.
best
A.
Posted by: Andrew | June 13, 2008 03:19 PM