CLINTON — While activity pertaining to the wind farm continues to keep many Waynesville area residents busy, a proposed gun club in that area was the primary topic during the May 30 county board meeting.

Eleven people were originally scheduled to talk to the board about the gun club, with the board adding two more names to the list shortly before the meeting began at 5:30 p.m.

Clinton attorney Phillip Lamkin was the first person to address the board about the gun club special use permit application.

Lamkin questioned whether adequate roads existed to access the property intended for the gun club’s proposed site.

“There are a number of very dangerous curves, as far as the most direct route to access the property that will not be able to hand a large increase in traffic,” Lamkin said.  Because of Long Point Creek, a lot of the …roads don’t go through.”

Lamkin said many of the roads to the property from the north were marked one-lane roads, and roads from the south are steep and involve blind curves.

“So, I don’t feel there is sufficient access out there to increase the traffic.”

Lamkin’s second concern was the question of what constitutes a development.  He pointed out that the county ordinance prohibits shooting clubs within one mile of a development.

“It doesn’t say …if land is being developed in R1 versus commercial or whatever,” Lamkin said.  “I feel that alone is why this should be not be allowed to pass as a special use issue.”

Based on how he read the ordinance, Lamkin felt that this issued would constitute only a one-year temporary special use permit.

He also said there were a number of flood plain issues in the area.

Lamkin said he felt the only way the county could authorize the shooting club would be to amend the ordinance.

“You can’t do it by special use.”

Waynesville area resident Dawn Funderberg addressed the board in opposition to the gun club permit.  Her home is in close proximity, 230 feet, to the gun club property, well within the one-mile limit cited in the ordinance.

  “Our home and the one directly south of us were developed as residential,” Funderberg told board members.  “The home purchased by Heritage Holdings is residential and now has tenants.”

American Heritage Holdings, LLC, is the developer of the gun club.

Funderberg said she and others testified to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) that disruption of soil into Long Point Creek along the property of the gun club would jeopardize the integrity of surrounding properties.  She said she felt members of the ZBA ignored important facts.

Funderberg and other nearby residents also have expressed concerns about a potential drop in the values of their properties and the noise levels created by the 250-member club.

Attorney for Funderberg, Joe Taylor, posed the question of what constitutes a residential development.  He said it was important to look behind the meaning of the ordinance.

“Well, we’re trying to protect houses,” Taylor said.  “Do I want my house 230 feet from a place that’s going to shoot guns seven days a week?”

“That’s the idea behind the prohibition in our zoning code, not within one-mile.  And there’s no way they can get around it.”

Taylor said the homes did not have to be in R1 in order to be protected by the ordinance.

“You can have houses in this area,” he said.  “Our county permitted it in 2001.”

Taylor said the only licensed appraiser to testify at the ZBA hearing said that Funderberg could expect a decline of $30,000 in the value of her house because of the gun club.

Tim Dazey, of American Heritage Holdings, LLC, said his company had a good track record of safety and said they wanted to be good neighbors to surrounding homeowners.

Dazey said that, after meeting with the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) and testifying before the ZBA on multiple occasions, the issue of road access to the gun club was resolved.  He also said potential noise from the club also was addressed at earlier meetings.

Dazey said in addressing noise from large firearms, the club would “proactively limit high-powered arms until there is sound mitigation.”  He said in the meantime, rim fire, black power, air power and archery would be permitted at the club.

Some residents asked the county to impose sound mitigation as part of its passage of the special use permit, others felt no amount of mitigation would sufficiently deaden the sound of gunfire.

Ultimately, the board approved the special use permit conditional upon the following be completed before operation begins: sound mitigation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) approval of moving dirt in the flood plain, and approval from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) of lead levels caused by discharged ammunition.