Council OKs look at gun range

Jenny Marder

Although skeptical about its prospects, City Council members on

Monday approved what Mayor Connie Boardman called a “a feasibility

study of the feasibility study” for an indoor gun range for city

police officers.

Faced with a state budget crisis, severe budget cuts, layoffs, a

sluggish economy -- as well as the fact that a similar proposal

failed due to lack of funding less than a year ago -- the council

still voted to direct staff to look into the possibility.

“We supported a very limited amount of staff time spent on this,”

Boardman said.

The proposed gun range, brought forth by Councilman Gil Coerper,

would be located on a plot of land at Gothard Street and Talbert

Avenue that houses the police heliport as well as a training site for

the Fire Department.

The gun range would offer pistol and rifle training for police

officers who currently commute with their firearms to either Seal

Beach or Norco to train.

Neither of those gun ranges is ideal. Hours at Seal Beach are

limited and training is restricted to stationary shooting positions.

Traveling to Raahauge’s Range in Norco takes 3 1/2 hours round trip.

“I think we have a responsibility to service our citizens,”

Coerper said. “There’s no way you can service our citizens if the

police officers are up there in Norco.”

Some council members questioned why, at a time of severe cost

cutting, a motion that was tabled due to inadequate funding would be

brought back to the table.

“I’m not sure where you think the money’s going to come from,”

Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “I think we considered both the land

we might have to purchase as well as land that we already have.”

A committee formed in 2002 to study the options for training

facilities concluded that Surf City has no adequate location for a

gun range. Several properties in Huntington Beach have already been

researched as potential sites, including Golden West College, the

Orange County Dump Transfer Station and a property at Newland Street

and Pacific Coast Highway, but all were eliminated from

consideration.

“I don’t support a gun range and I don’t support staff time to

support a feasibility study,” Boardman said. “I am just not in favor

of rehashing this thing.”

The city has been without a firing range since 1997, when an

open-air range in Central Park was closed after it was deemed a

safety hazard.

Following a lively discussion, the council directed staff to do a

preliminary analysis to determine whether a feasibility study would

be warranted. The vote was 5 to 1 with Boardman opposed.

“It was never financially feasible for the city to do,” she said,

“I don’t support spending money even for a limited feasibility

study.”

Police Chief Kenneth Small said he hopes to get a report to the

council within a month.

“We’ll just do something in house that doesn’t cost any money,”

Small said. “It will give us an idea if the site is suitable, if it’s

big enough, how much it would cost and if other city’s are

interested. The challenge is money. It’s how can we creatively think

about proceeding with a project of this scope right now without

having an adverse impact on the general fund.”