Safety remains a concern for village, township officials
A sign at the West Mansfield Conservation Club’s shooting range notifies members that the range is closed. The club’s operators expect to resume shooting there on weekends beginning March 1 as a conditional use permit proceeds through the Perry Township Board of Zoning Appeals. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES)
The West Mansfield Conservation Club would like to resume shooting at the firing range on weekends, beginning March 1, although a request for a conditional use permit has been returned to the club for more work.
The club, which is run by a volunteer board of directors, voluntarily discontinued all shooting except concealed carry firearms training at the site last fall after West Mansfield village employees began noticing bullet holes in the sewage treatment building that sits just west of the shooting range, Conservation Club board president James Shelton said this week.
The property is located on the south edge of West Mansfield. While the 40 acres containing the pond and ball fields are in the village corporation limits, the 8-acre tract on which the gun range sits is in unincorporated Perry Township. A village ordinance prohibiting discharging firearms in city limits does not apply, and the gun range, which was built in 1968, predates Perry Township’s zoning ordinance, which took effect in 1971, Township Zoning Officer Dan Ackley reports.
While the township does not believe it has the authority to demand that shooting stop there, they hope to use a conditional use permit to make sure shooting is as safe as possible.
“We can’t stop them from shooting, but we aren’t comfortable with it yet, either,” Mr. Ackley said. “The township doesn’t want to be liable if something happens, but the township does want to work with them.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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