NORRIDGEWOCK — Unbearable noise. Water contamination. Bald eagles scared away. Increased traffic.
Those were the chief concerns of neighbors of a proposed shooting range of up to 1,000 yards at 255 Skowhegan Road, who gathered at Mill Stream Elementary School on Thursday to urge the planning board to deny, or at least ask for information about, the site plan review application.
“Before you vote, I ask that you picture this long range was across from your home,” said Danielle Taylor, who lives on the other side of Skowhegan Road.
Most of the dozen residents who spoke at the hearing — many of whom have also submitted letters to the town — live next to the proposed range and are opposed to it. Two, who live elsewhere in town, spoke in favor of it.
“I hear gunfire all the time, every day — Saturday, Sunday, every day, all year round — I don’t care,” said Valerie Coulombe, of Winding Hill Road, adding she sees animals unaffected at another shooting range and the facility would be safer than shooting in gravel pits.
The planning board, which first began reviewing the project at its October meeting, did not discuss the project Thursday night after the public hearing. Town Manager Richard LaBelle said last week the board did not put it on the meeting’s agenda because developer Nicholas Carrier had yet to pay the application fee.
In September, Carrier objected to the town’s fee of $16,842.50, records show. In response, the select board revised the town’s fee schedule and came back with a new estimated fee of $2,139.75. The current fee has a $250 base, plus rates based on square footage of proposed pervious and impervious development.
Carrier also has not yet provided the board with all the information it requested at the last meeting, namely a stormwater management plan and a professional noise assessment.
Project consultant Stephen Gould, president of Sackett & Brake Survey in Skowhegan, said Thursday both of those were still in progress. He said he and Carrier were at the hearing simply to listen to feedback.
The planning board meets monthly, with its next regularly scheduled meeting Dec. 10.
Carrier, who owns NE Firearms, told the board previously the Skowhegan Road site would be an expansion of his business, currently run out of his home at 116 Goodwin Lane.
Plans submitted to the town call for a firearms store with a 25-yard test range in its rear. They also include 100-, 200-, 450- and 1,000-yard ranges to the south of the structure. The project is estimated to cost $190,000, records show.
There are no other ranges that long in the area, which could be a draw, Carrier said.
Deliberations over Carrier’s application come as voters narrowly rejected a proposed 180-day moratorium on certain noisy commercial developments, which would have paused the planning board’s review of the shooting range and a burnout pit off Ward Hill Road that has caused controversy.
The select board last week nevertheless discussed moving forward with exploring the idea of developing noise regulations to propose to voters. With only three of five members present at that meeting, Chair Matt Everett said he would bring up the issue again to the full board.
Some select board members and LaBelle have said there may have been confusion over the moratorium vote, and it is also possible some people may favornoise regulations but opposed putting them in place with two site plan applications already pending.
The planning board Thursday declined to take up the select board’s request to be involved in the process of developing the new rules.
Although the board heard many concerns Thursday, most focused on noise impacts from the potential constant use of high-powered firearms at the proposed range.
Carrier said in October that plans include natural sound buffers. And, he said, nearly all of his customers use suppressors on their firearms that soften the noise. He said he was also open to restrictions on his hours of operation and requiring suppressors on certain days.
Becky Sherburne, of Merry Farm Road, said she thinks the sound will travel up and down the Kennebec River. The noise would scare away local bald eagles neighbors enjoy seeing, she said.
“Why should something that’s only going to give a small population a good time disrupt our quiet lives?” Sherburne said. “I just see absolutely no way there’s going to be an economic impact great enough on Norridgewock to make up for us being held hostage.”
Others who spoke against the project were seeking more detailed information from Carrier.
“There’s just a lot of vagary here that will have no teeth if, two years from now, this is a problem,” said Chris Tibbetts, who lives across the Kennebec on the River Road.
Brad Farrin, who has lived on Skowhegan Road with his family his whole life, urged the planning board to request a safety analysis, engineered berm plans, a noise study, a lead management plan, a stormwater and erosion control plan, a wildlife habitat review and a review of state environmental protection permitting regulations.
Farrin, a Republican finishing a term in the state Senate, said in his written comments that if the board approves the plans, it should require regular reporting, monitoring and inspections and define a process to respond to complaints.
Farrin said he also contacted the Maine State Police to see if officials were interested in using the range for training, as Carrier told the planning board previously.
Sgt. Paul Casey of the firearms training unit confirmed the agency had been in touch with Carrier, Farrin said, but told Farrin the agency does not take a position on specific projects. State police spokesperson Maj. Aaron Turcotte said Friday via text message he was busy and unable to respond to say whether that was accurate.
“If this range begins successful operations, we may look into its use, but again, we may not,” Casey said, according to Farrin. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I would not want the state police, as an organization, to hold weight on you or your residents’ opinions or concerns.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Jake Freudberg can be reached at jfreudberg@centralmaine.com.