HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 06-29 Homes on the range MAPLEWOOD REVIEW11-1PR 21111
Homes on the range I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Homes on the range
Submitted by admin on Wed, 06/29/2016 - 12:OOam
By: Aundrea Kinney
The police firing range located on Linwood Avenue in Maplewood is just southwest of the Ponds Golf Course.
Many residents who live in the southern leg of Maplewood have complaints about the St. Paul Police shooting range located off
Linwood Avenue, and despite 15 years ofvoicing those complaints, they say the loud, unsettling sounds of gunshots persist.
The St. Paul Police Department has a 99 -year lease with Ramsey County to use land as a shooting range; the lease existed before
houses surrounded the area.
Also, police officers must complete training to maintain their gun licenses, and some ofthattraining has to be outside in the elements,
although it also can't be so far from St. Paul that the officers can't get back for emergencies.
On June 22, representatives ofthe St. Paul Police Department metwith the community to listen to residents, and share news of some
new projects in the works including the possibility of additional sound barriers atthe outdoor range and the construction of new
indoor range.
"We're not where we need to be and we understand that, but we have taken some steps to mitigate this, and we have some ideas of
what future mitigation might look like," said Commander Paul lovino. "In all honesty, all options are on the table as far as mitigation
goes."
What has already been done?
In 2012, a sound study was completed. Based on recommendations from that study, a shooting shed and two walls were builtto
hopefully muffle some sound and push the rest of the noise upward instead of across to people's homes.
The westwall and shooting shed were built in 2013, and the east wall was built in 2015, but even Commander Julie Midment, head of
the St. Paul Police Department training unit, admitted these ultimately proved to be ineffective sound barriers.
Range Master Jeff Whitbeck said the caliber of weapons used on the range has not changed, but many residents claim the noise,
which at first sounded like firecrackers in the distance, now rattles the windows and sends pets under beds to hide.
1/3
11-1PR Z111t
Homes on the range I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Police have also tried restricting the hours thatthey use the range in orderto meetthe residents halfway. According to Steve Linders,
the St. Paul police public information coordinator, St. Paul officers are only able to shoot between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday
through Thursday. He added that they are usually done shooting by 4:30 p.m. during the week; they rarely shoot on Fridays and never
on weekends.
To address concerns about lead from bullets contaminating the soil and leaching into groundwater, Whitbeck shared the good news
that the range was cleaned out earlier this year. He also shared some news that setthe residents on edge; there is no record of it
being cleaned at anytime before that.
Community concerns remained
Residents remain frustrated even after these changes were implemented. Their concerns vary from environmental pollution to the
shooting range being used by additional police departments to property values not increasing as fast as other suburban
neighborhoods because of the gunshots.
One concern that was repeated several times was the possible psychological impacts the gun noise would have on the
neighborhood's children.
Sharon Werner, a parent who lives nearthe shooting range, recently took her son to a golf lesson at the Ponds At Battle Creek golf
course, and she said that parents from other communities were alarmed by the ever-present sound of gunshots.
"They were actually fearful of their kids golfing there!" Werner said.
"[Gunshots are] kind of scary for kids.... I mean we talk about kids playing videogames and getting used to that noise and people
getting shot, butwhat aboutthat noise?" she added.
Another nearby resident, Susan Vento, said that during the school year, kids start their day "with a bowl of cereal and [the sound of] a
whole bunch of firearms." She added that they listen to the gunshots continue as they wait for the school bus, and the noise is still
there when they get home from school.
New options
Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt said that based on a conversation with St. Paul Assistant Chief Kathy Wuorinen,
law enforcement agencies that do not provide revenue will be asked to use other practice ranges and shooting will soon only happen
between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Midmenttold residents thatAlphonze "Al" Perez is a sound engineerwho has been hired as a consultantto help find a better, long-
term solution forthe high decibel levels atthe range, and Troy Accoustics is working with St. Paul police on a new, indoor range
expected to eliminate about half ofthe use ofthe outdoor range.
The indoor range will be a part ofthe new police training facility under construction nearthe St. Paul Police Department on the East
Side of St. Paul. This training facility is expected to be completed September2017.
According to Midment, Troy Acoustics has had successes around the country with noise absorption techniques on military shooting
ranges. Not many details are available now, but Midment said the department plans to come back to the community with that
information when it is available.
Commissioner Reinhardt added that Troy Acoustics guarantees its work, and the area's lawmakers intend to go forward with a
bonding request to make this happen. Reinhardt estimates the bonding to happen around the same time the new police facility is
finished on the East Side.
2/3
6/29/2016 Homes on the range I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
No local leverage
"This looks like a bandage — gauze over a wound that nobody wants to sew up," asserted resident Mike Mazur about the new
options. "Sew it up and take care of it."
Most homeowners in the audience made it clearthatthey wantthe St. Paul Police Departmentto find somewhere else for its outdoor
firing range, regardless of whatever improvements are proposed.
Some even suggested that county officials and the police department "stop wasting money" on improvements atthe Maplewood firing
range, and instead spend it on creating a new facility that's located away from residential neighborhoods and meets all police training
needs.
Commissioner Reinhardt said, "I would hate to see us not do anything to make this situation better, if in fact, it's going to stay there."
Residents have also turned to their city council, hoping to find some way to evict their noisy neighbors.
In a phone interview, Maplewood city manager Melinda Coleman said that City Hall does receive quite a few complaints aboutthe
shooting range, but because the property is not owned by Maplewood, the city has been directing the complaints to the St. Paul Police
Department. She explained that although the firing range is in Maplewood, it is owned by Ramsey County and rented by the St. Paul
Police Department.
"It's not our facility, and we don't use it," Coleman said. She explained thatthe Maplewood Police Department stopped using that
range because "we don'twantto be a part of something that is a nuisance to our residents."
Atthe community meeting, Coleman said there is a state statute that allows gun ranges to be an exception to city noise ordinances
because the state law supersedes the city law.
"There are really very limited things that we can do about that. That's just state law," Coleman said.
Even at the state level, the Maplewood residents have found no options to force the shooting range out of their neighborhood.
"Any issues regarding regulations of any activity regarding firearms -there's just not an opportunity to make those changes very easily,"
said state Sen. Susan Kent, who represents southern Maplewood in the Legislature.
"Realistically, that's just not an avenue that's going to be available to us," explained the DFL lawmaker.
Despite the residents' doubts about the new options to reduce the sound of gunfire in their neighborhood, Commissioner Reinhardt
voiced her optimism. "This is the first time that I think thatthere is actually a plan to make a difference here."
As the meeting drew to a close, residents thanked the officers for their service despite the disagreements about the firing range.
"We're really trying to ... have the least amount impact as we possibly can," Midment told the crowd.
Aundrea Kinney can be reached at 651-748-7822 or akinneZalllienews.com.
hftp://www.IiIIienews.com/articles/2016/06/29/homes-range 3/3