Shooting range could open soon

After four years in limbo, Farragut Park Shooting Range could reopen soon.

Or, depending on the success of Idaho Fish and Game's safety remodeling, it could face a whole new slew of conditions.

The decision is up to a district court judge holding a hearing next month over whether to lift part of the injunction on the popular range.

"Fish and Game believes that (the remodeling) meets all the safety requirements to reopen," said Dave Leptich, regional wildlife biologist for the Fish and Game Coeur d'Alene office. "We'd like to be shooting this spring."

But those involved with the lawsuit that initially closed the range aren't satisfied.

"I can only say the entirety of what Fish and Game has done has been a financial waste," said attorney Harvey Richman, representing one of the individuals concerned with the range.

The plaintiffs will request the range not reopen without more improvements, Richman added.

"The court will address it for us," he said.

Fish and Game is asking to reopen only the 100-yard range on the facility, Leptich said, after investing about $260,000 worth of safety remodeling on that portion.

Improvements include excavation that lowered the range and added 12-foot berms to muffle noise and catch bullets. There is also a new three-sided shooting shed with an armored roof.

Six overhead safety baffles were installed to prevent bullets from traveling downrange, which Leptich said meets the stipulation of a no blue-sky range required to lift the injunction.

The range also meets the new state noise standard, he added.

"I'm confident that we have done what the judge has asked us to do," Leptich said, adding that folks still call asking when the range will reopen.

The improvements were actually finished in November 2009, Leptich added, but Fish and Game delayed requesting a lift on the injunction because of other priorities.

"This isn't the only thing the office has to do. It got back burnered for a little bit," he said.

Richman said the improvements are not enough, though.

"It is pretty, but pretty isn't what it's about. It's about safety," Richman said.

The new side berms aren't back far enough, he said, and blue sky spaces are open on the right and left.

"An errant bullet can escape," he said.

The bottomline, he said, is that the partially baffled range only protects against direct fire bullets, not ricochet bullets.

"A bullet could ricochet out and travel well beyond the public road and onto public property," he said.

Leptich said such fears are groundless.

Any ricochets that escape the baffles will fall within the range's safety fence, he assured.

"Ricochets aren't anticipated to exceed the fence of the property," he said. "What he (the judge) asked us to create is a no-blue sky range, so we've met the court order."

The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Kootenai County Courthouse.

The over 60-year-old gun range was closed in a settlement over locals' complaints of noise and stray bullets. A district judge ordered that the range could reopen when new safety stipulations were met.

When the full range will be ready to open, Leptich couldn't predict.

Safety improvements for the 200-yard range are fully funded, he said, but delayed by weather. The agency doesn't have the roughly $100,000 needed to modify the 50-yard range.

"I think this has the potential to be very win-win," he said of the 100-yard range reopening. "The range is very much improved to compared to what it was before. I think this should be a good outcome for everybody."