Commissioners begin deliberations on shooting ordinance

Posted

Jefferson County commissioners began to deliberate on potential changes to a draft ordinance on commercial shooting facilities during a special meeting Oct. 29 at the Fort Worden Commons. 

After a two-hour executive session, county administrator Philip Morley and chief civil deputy prosecutor Philip Hunsucker presented an amended draft to commissioners, allowing them to discuss potential changes.

Several options were on the table, including night shooting regulations, military training at facilities and environmental testing, among others. Afterward, commissioners voted to continue deliberations during a special meeting at 2 p.m. Nov. 2 in the upstairs meeting room at the Northwest Maritime Center. 

Commissioners also expressed opinions on public comment they received on the ordinance, highlighting their dedication to proceeding in “good faith.”

“I grew up in the south side of Chicago in the late ’80s and early ’90s at a time when gun violence was at a peak, similar to today’s epidemic,” commissioner Kate Dean said. “I don’t get the love that some have for guns, but I do love our Constitution and take seriously my oath to uphold personal liberties, state laws and property rights.”

Dean said she had read hundreds of pages and listened “with an open mind” to hours of public testimony. She also visited the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association and was “glad to have been schooled” on the community’s need for the JCSA. 

“I realize there is a lot of distrust in government, in the public process right now, especially on issues that are passionate like this one. But I want you to know that the intention that has gone into this … was in good faith,” Dean said. “We have prepared something that has attempted to meet the needs of a really divergent population.” 

Commissioner Kathleen Kler echoed Dean’s address, adding she felt some “disrespect” at accusations she has heard that she is “against guns because I myself do not carry.” 

“All of this work was done not only in good faith, but it was done in response to the oath that I took four years ago that spoke to upholding the Constitution of the United States,” Kler said. “I am doing that as impartially as I can and with the best of my ability.”

Despite many public comments asking to extend the moratorium on any development at new and existing commercial shooting facilities, the commissioners did not act. The moratorium is set to expire Dec. 17.

“We do have a time limit,” Commission Chair David Sullivan said. 

 

DISTRUST AT HEARING

About 300 attended Fort Worden’s McCurdy Pavilion on Oct. 24 for the second public hearing on the county’s draft shooting facilities ordinance. The four-hour meeting was similar to the first public hearing on Oct. 1, although commissioners struck it from the record due to concerns over a possible violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. That was because not everyone could fit into the Superior Courtroom at the Jefferson County Courthouse, so commissioners rented the McCurdy Pavilion for a new hearing. 

It cost the county $8,067 to rent the pavilion and the Fort Worden Commons so deliberations could be held in a space with enough room for everyone to attend. 

“Thanks for coming to the second round of my PowerPoint presentation,” Hunsucker joked as he began last week. It was nearly identical to the one he gave Oct. 1, save for a few explanatory additions. 

“I listened to his PowerPoint twice, so you’re going to listen to me twice,” said Dwayne Roberts, a Single Action Society shooter who stepped up to the podium in full regalia, his spurs clicking on the cement floor.

One of 76 people who gave public testimony during the hearing, Roberts supported the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association. He said the ordinance may cause financial struggles for the not-for-profit range. 

“JCSA has been in good faith with Jefferson County and the community for over 50 years,” Roberts said. “Please honor your agreement. We’re not a commercial facility.” 

The draft ordinance aims to find “uniform requirements for the establishment and operation of all commercial shooting facilities” in Jefferson County in order to “provide assurance of the safe conduct of recreational and educational shooting activities,” while recognizing the need for training for law enforcement, and for the public’s right to train and shoot recreationally. The ordinance also aims to take into consideration the increasing population density in Jefferson County. 

If enacted, the ordinance would require new and existing shooting facilities to apply for operating permits. The permit application would need to include a facility design plan, a safety plan, an operations plan, an environmental plan, a noise abatement plan, and a professional evaluation and certification, among other requirements.

More than half of the speakers were members of the JCSA, who asked the commissioners to exempt the organization from the ordinance’s proposed regulations.

Despite being asked not to clap, boo or cheer, members of the audience did anyway. Some speakers said they didn’t trust the commissioners’ process.

“Having endured the first meeting, seeing the commissioners’ solution to the non-problem, and their half-truth strategy, I think I finally have a handle on what is going on,” said Stephen Cherry, who added he is worried the commissioners are trying to “close” the JCSA. “You say that this is not an attempt to regulate land use, but that’s exactly what it is dressed up as a public safety issue. … It’s payback, and pretty mean-spirited at that.”

Joe D’Amico, president of Fort Discovery, was not able to attend the hearing because he was on security detail for Chelsea Clinton, who was at an event in Seattle. 

Justine Wagner, assistant executive at D’Amico’s security company, Security Services Northwest, read a statement on D’Amico’s behalf. 

“Discriminated against and a persecuted class. That’s how I feel,” the statement read. “Those who know me know I am not going to remain silent while being mocked by a biased Jefferson County government.”

D’Amico’s statement referred to new and existing shooting facilities, which directly affect his business, since he hopes to build the Cedar Hills Recreational Facility on his property near Tarboo Lake. 

Meanwhile, members of the Tarboo Ridge Coalition, who oppose the Cedar Hills Recreational Facility due to possible effects on the Tarboo Lake neighborhood and environment, asked for the moratorium to be extended so the county can have more time to make changes to the ordinance. 

“This is not an anti-gun issue,” Lili Storey said. “This is an anti-insanity issue. We have a pristine watershed, a wildlife corridor, a salmon restoration site, and a population of peaceful, productive human beings living in the area of the proposed private, for-profit, massive-in-scope shooting facility that would be destructive to the watershed, the wildlife, the land, the salmon and the people. If you agree to a weak, wishy-washy ordinance that disregards account location and siting, you’d be throwing away a jewel of a watershed.”