“I urge the planning board to err on the side of safety, public health and caution,” said Kaycee Wimbish, Kingston resident and urban farmer, who works at the nearby YMCA.
“I ask the planning board to consider if this makes Midtown a better and safer place to live,” said Jen Hynes of Kingston. “It does not.”
“Law enforcement should be building their own shooting range,” said Kingston resident Deborah Mills Thackrey. “Do we really want to create an environment where we’re all walking around like the Wild West?”
Pat Courtney Strong of Kingston warned the range would blunt what she said was building economic momentum in Midtown and bring down property values. “Zoning laws call for the highest and best use of a property. This is not it,” she said. “If you want to try this in your community,” she said to range supporters, many of which came in from surrounding towns, “I invite you to do so.”
“I am not in favor of a private armory being placed in the heart of our city,” said Owen Harvey of Kingston.
Bryant Drew Andrews of Kingston said the perception that the neighborhood is getting safer is vital to Midtown’s in-process revitalization. “In that heavily populated area, that’s not the safest place for a gun range,” he said. “I’m afraid of the people who may come.”
City code violation?
The assumption has been that the plan, as it’s an allowed use in the zone in the commercial zone in which the building sits, wouldn’t face a tough time before the planning board. The board wasn’t obligated to even hold a public hearing, but last month set one after numerous requests from the public.
But Jennifer Schwartz Berky, who will take office in January as a county legislator from Kingston, noted that city code forbids firing guns in the city except in cases of self-defense and in the line of one’s official duties. Unless the code is changed, a shooting range within city limits would be prohibited, she said. She also said that since the range is classifying itself as a “membership organization” it would need an area variance from the zoning board of appeals — a variance the range isn’t entitled to as it would, she said, fall under the heading of a “self-imposed hardship,” not the kind of unavoidable hardship area or use variances are granted to get around. If a citizen or group believes a local government entity has acted improperly in administering the law, a so-called Article 78 proceeding may be filed in state Supreme Court to bring the matter before a judge.
Next month will bring another opportunity for people to offer their opinions — due to Soyer submitting new information for his plan, Platte said the public hearing will continue at the board’s Jan. 11 meeting. It wasn’t clear this week whether the board would vote on site plan approval at that meeting.
From a zoning perspective the city itself set the precedence for a shooting range in Midtown Kingston. This as the city operated a shooting range practically across the street from the proposed range in what is now known as the Andy Murphy Midtown Neighborhood Center.
I know the range was in operation as early as the 1940s. I confirmed this today when I spoke with a former student from MJM middle school who shot there in 1948-49 as part of a school club. The students used to bring their .22 rimfire rifles to school on the bus, carry them into the school, and during the activity period at the end of the day carry them down to the Municipal Auditorium range. As my informant recalls Mr. Wells was the school’s faculty advisor for this club. This school club was but one group of shooters who used the range regularly.
I also know the range operated into at least the 1980s. This as when the informal shooting at Coward’s Falls on Hurley Mtn. Rd. was being stopped I spoke with Fred Farber, then President of the Federated Sportsmen’s Clubs of Ulster County about the situation. He said that the Federation didn’t want to get involved in that issue as they were trying to keep the city’s range open. It seems that changing air quality standards (but indoor and outdoor) led to the range not being in compliance. The cost to upgrade the air handling and filtering was high and ultimately the range closed. I imagine that there are city common council, committee, and/or board meeting minutes that would reflect the problems and give a more definitive date to the closure.
It is important to note that this range was in operation after the city passed the ordinance prohibiting the discharge of firearms in the city.
A state of the art indoor shooting range, as proposed by Dr. Soyer, would be an economic draw from which the commercial district on and around Broadway will benefit. The range patrons, on average will be better educated, more affluent, and better trained in firearms safety than not only the average citizen but also of gun owners in general. This as sport shooting is a relatively expensive. The certified instructors at the range will help improve gun safety not only through range procedures but through the formal training offered.
The zoning board’s decision should be easy from a zoning standpoint as there is nothing to preclude the range. Once people get past the ill informed anti-gun bigotry and look at this as a business catering to people who have passed criminal and mental health background checks, and who have the means to patronize the range, they will realize this range will be an economic and educational benefit to Kingston.