Panel opposes shooting-range plan

At a packed hearing Thursday night to consider a proposed shooting range near Echo Lake, the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee voted unanimously in opposition to the proposal after local residents criticized its potential safety, noise and environmental impacts.

Bigfork resident Michael Krachun’s plan to open a limited, appointment-only rifle range in a pair of gravel pits has sparked controversy among nearby residents, over 75 of whom were on hand at the meeting.

The 60-acre property zoned for agriculture is located at 395 Echo Bay Trail near Talmadge Lake and the northern half of Echo Lake.

Krachun wants to allow shooters to use a pair of gravel pits on the property on a limited, appointment-only basis. Hours of operation would be limited to an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset, seven days per week, and he said shooters would be professionally supervised at all times.

While individual homes and a pair of subdivisions lie near his property, a commercial shooting range would be allowed under the county’s zoning codes as long as a conditional use permit is obtained.

The Bigfork committee recommended that the permit be denied and suggested 11 amendments to the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Department’s report endorsing the permit application.

The committee’s recommendation goes to the county Board of Adjustment, which will hold a hearing and issue a final decision on the permit June 7.

The basement of Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork was crowded for the three-hour hearing. Each speaker during the public-comment portion of the meeting spoke against the shooting range.

Zach Greene lives near the proposed range and voiced a common concern that the proximity to homes would create a risk of errant bullets striking nearby residents. The nearest home lies more than 500 feet away.

“I’m about as pro-gun as it gets,” Greene said, adding that he is an instructor for the National Rifle Association. “Controlling ricochet from bullets — it doesn’t happen.”

As evidence, he recommended visiting Northwest Shooter, an indoor range north of Kalispell where he said the ceiling is riddled with bullet holes.

Krachun’s professed ownership of and intention to use machine guns on the property sent murmurs of discontent through the crowd and resulted in a recommended amendment from the council specifically banning automatic firearms on the range.

Krachun said in an interview after the public comments that he isn’t surprised by the reaction and blamed it on real estate agents that sold neighboring homes without disclosing that shooting use is allowed by zoning.

“It’s not a public park, it’s not county land, it’s not National Forest land. It’s private property,” Krachun said.

He also dismissed the safety concerns as overblown.

“The thing sits in a huge bowl, there’s nothing but mountains all around it,” he said. “To shoot out of it you’d have to shoot straight up in the air. I don’t think the Sheriff’s Office would approve it if it’s unsafe.”

As part of the permitting process, a deputy from the Flathead County Sheriff’s office is required to visit the property to assess the proposed rifle range’s safety.

Deputy Nick Fister wrote in his May 10 assessment that the gravel pits had “adequate backstops at both locations” and noted the absence of boulders in the area.

The noise from patrons regularly firing guns on the property was another central point of contention for nearby residents, including Cely Shaff’s characterization of the gravel pits as a “natural amphitheater.”

As resident Jean Rachubka put it, “It’s called ‘Echo Lake’ for a reason.”

However, Montana law explicitly exempts from public nuisance complaints the noise from shooting ranges operating during established hours.

Flathead County Planning and Zoning Director Mark Mussman said the county has no regulations on noise from firearms.

Other concerns voiced by residents — including wildfire danger, lowered property values and environmental contamination from gunpowder, bullets and spent cartridges being left in an area that periodically floods — were included in the committee’s recommended amendments to the planning department report.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee’s recommendations are not binding, and the Board of Adjustment could reject the permit, approve the permit as proposed or approve it with additional conditions attached.

The committee voted to include a range of amendments to the application’s findings of fact, as well as five additional conditions: require fencing around the property to deter children from wandering onto the shooting range, prohibit the use of automatic weapons, further limit the hours of operation to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. and require additional assessments of potential safety environmental issues.

Mussman said Friday that Krachun told planning staffers after the meeting that he is considering withdrawing his permit application altogether.

“He’s worried that the Board of Adjustment will approve it but restrict the kinds of weapons that can be used on the range,” Mussman said.

On Thursday night, Krachun said, “It’s going to be a shooting range” regardless of the outcome for his proposed business, and Mussman confirmed that he doesn’t need any county permits to operate a noncommercial rifle range on the property.

THE BOARD of Adjustment will consider the permit June 7 at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.