Proposed gun range in Crest Hill draws opposition from some residents, council members

Crest Hill — The city of Crest Hill is slated to vote Monday on the Lockport Township Fire Protection District’s plan to construct a new fire and police training facility on property adjacent to Stateville Correctional Center.

Many residents in the 2nd Ward near the property still have objections.

As approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in March, the 13-acre property, located on the south side of Division Street west of Broadway Street and east of Weber Road near Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, will be used to host classes and diverse training exercises using a four-story burn tower structure, a man-made diving pond, a K-9 training area and an outdoor shooting range.

The gun range, which would be the third in Crest Hill, is the portion of the plan drawing objections from residents.

“I think everything else is great for the community, it’s just the gun range I’m opposed to,” said Alderman Darrell Jefferson, who represents the 2nd Ward, where the facility would be located. “We’re already dealing with two gun ranges, and a third one just adds more noise pollution. We have people in our ward who have [post-traumatic stress disorder] and hearing ailments who it affects in a negative way. It’s insensitive to the people in the community.”

Talea Ben, a resident whose property borders the fire district’s land, said she is concerned about noise and the possibility of stray bullets.

“It’s going to be loud, and it’s a safety concern for me,” Ben said. “They’re going to be firing in the direction of my yard. Any shots that go awry could go into my backyard or home, where my desk sits.”

Although Ben said her yard is “50 yards away” from the property, interim City Administrator Tony Graff said that the range sits at least 2,200 feet from the closest houses.

Ben also expressed concerns about the noises disturbing her children and the family’s dogs.

“I think everything else is great for the community, it’s just the gun range I’m opposed to.”

—  Darrell Jefferson, 2nd Ward alderman for Crest Hill

The claim about misfired bullets was refuted by LTFPD officials.

“Only trained professionals will use this facility, operating under the supervision of a range master and adhering to the strictest safety protocols,” LTFPD Chief John O’Connor said. “Additionally, our proposed range will feature 24-foot earthen berms surrounding the site, and all shooting will be directed south, away from the nearest residential community. To further reduce noise, we have also intentionally positioned our training classroom between the range and the nearest homes.”

He added that the existing ranges at Stateville and the Illinois State Police range on Division Street have been operating for decades and have never had a misfire that affected the surrounding community.

O’Connor also reiterated that LTFPD has worked with sound engineers at SoundScape Engineering to design the range’s noise mitigation system and test the expected volume of hand guns and rifles firing in similar conditions.

According to the reports, the sound from a rifle will average about 45 decibels at the distance of nearby homes, somewhere between the noises of a whisper and a casual human conversation, which range from 25 to 60 decibels.

Although the range will have 15 shooting lanes, most circumstances would not see more than four officers shooting simultaneously, O’Connor said.

Mitigating noise

Despite these assurances, some, including Jefferson, are skeptical.

“Putting up sound suppression and berms may work at the level of the shooting, but sound travels up into the air,” Jefferson argued.

“I sincerely appreciate the efforts to mitigate the noise, it shows they’ve listened to us,” said resident Julie Pierce, who lives in the Arbor Glen subdivision, about a mile away from the proposed range. “But if you’ve potentially got 15 people shooting at a time, it’s incomprehensible that it be as quiet as they say. There’s no way. I’m afraid it will be like having fireworks going off all day and night. I’m very supportive of the overall project and what they’re trying to accomplish. My sole objection is the outdoor gun range.

A recurring theme of the concerns was damage being done to property values due to the increased noise.

O’Connor suggested the new range could lead to reduced noise over time because it will be quieter than the existing ranges, where some of the agencies that will be using the facility currently train.

“All public safety agencies in Lockport Township that will utilize our range currently train at these louder, heavily used state police and Stateville ranges,” he said. “Our facility will not increase gunfire noise in the area; rather, by consolidating training for five departments into a range designed with advanced sound mitigation measures, we will actually help reduce overall noise levels.”

Oversight concerns

O’Connor also rebutted concerns that the outdoor range would cause lead to leak into the ground from spent bullets.

“Shell casings will be cleaned up after each use,” he said. “The range will also comply with the ‘USEPA: Best Management Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges’ guidance, which states, ‘The range shall be designed to prevent contamination of any waterway consider waters of the U.S. as defined by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, wetland or floodplain in accordance with the Clean Water Act.”

Many of the residents in the neighboring community and 2nd Ward Alderwoman Claudia Gazal have said that they would be supportive of the plan if the gun range were excluded or moved indoors.

“We’re good with the training facility, just not the outdoor gun range,” Gazal said. “I think it would make more sense to leave that lot open for now until the funds were saved to build the enclosed range.”

Despite Gazal’s suggestion, this is not something police and fire officials found feasible.

O’Connor noted that the departments looked into the option but found that a range just for handguns would cost between $6 million and $8 million. In order to have it be large enough for rifles – something in which Illinois police are required to gain regular certification – it would need to be significantly larger and, therefore, more expensive.

O’Connor said there are no indoor rifle ranges anywhere in the Chicago area, partially because of this prohibitive cost.

In recent meetings, two new suggestions were taken into consideration to address continued concerns about the noise: the creation of an oversight board and adjusted operational hours.

Graff said that at the last Crest Hill City Council workshop on the issue, council members Joe Kubal and Scott Dyke requested a citizen’s advisory board be created to oversee noise complaints and meet with the police and fire departments on residential complaints, something that the city is now exploring.

Graff also reported that the LTFPD offered to adjust its hours so use of the range would end by 9 p.m. instead of the originally proposed 10 p.m. cutoff, and night shoots would be limited to four months of the year in spring and fall.

Although Mayor Ray Soliman was not available to comment, Graff said that “[Soliman] has stated that he is in favor of all aspects of the project and thinks it will be a great asset to the city.”

The public will have an opportunity to comment Monday at the City Council meeting before the vote takes place.

Gazal noted that residents have a petition that will likely be presented against the gun range. Jefferson said that if the measure passes, “I guarantee it will end up in court.”