Zoning proposed to stop gun club

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

Residents and property owners at Tally Lake and Farm To Market roads presented a zoning request to the Flathead County commissioners on Wednesday in their attempt to prevent a gun club from being established in their neighborhood.

John Klassen said residents have organized under the name Tally-Bissell Neighborhood Inc. Board members include Klassen, Dick Bevill, Lori Hustwaite, Greg Lee and Bob Brown. They have asked for SAG-10 zoning, with a 10-acre minimum.

When the board met with Texas-businessman Robert Hayes in mid-June, Hayes indicated he was willing to relocate his gun club and trap-shooting range if the neighbors would buy him out and help him find a suitable location elsewhere.

The 60-acre site on Farm To Market Road includes a log farmhouse built in the 1920s and a large metal barn once used for weekend country rodeos. Hayes suggested the property was worth about $2.5 million.

Klassen said the neighbors thanked Hayes for his offer. The neighbors' concerns include noise and other environmental impacts.

Hustwaite said she learned about the proposed gun club from Klassen and Michelle Larsen. As a Realtor, she is very concerned about the impact of a nuisance on her and her neighbors' land values.

Hustwaite, who is also chairwoman of the Bissell School board, said she's already noticed that some properties near the gun club are up for sale. Owners could be trying to sell before the gun club is operating.

"We're not anti-gun," she said. "My husband sights his rifle every fall before hunting season starts."

Hustwaite is also concerned there's no provision for governmental oversight over gun clubs.

"Who will make sure they don't use lead shot or cause other environmental damage?" she asked.

As for the $2.5 million price tag for Hayes' property, Hustwaite said that figure could be a "moving target."

Brown's family has owned property adjacent to the proposed gun club since he was a child. He said he'd planned to retire there, but now he's concerned about the impact of the gun club on land values.

"We hope for the best but plan for the worst," he said. "Suing is an ugly solution."

Noise travels easily across the valley floor between KM Ranch and Farm To Market Roads. He recalled echoing sounds off the nearby hills as a child.

The former Montana State Senate President and Secretary of State said he likes to shoot — he had just returned from a gopher shoot when he talked to the Pilot. He also said he found Hayes a likable man.

"So far, he appears to be willing to work with us," Brown said. "I'm optimistic he'll find a new location for his shooting range."

Rob Rice has lived across Farm To Market Road from the proposed gun club since 1996. He said the last time the neighborhood had gotten together was at a picnic about three years ago.

Rice owns and operates a studio at his home where he makes recordings for museums and state parks.

"The machines working across the street are already disruptive," he said, noting that noise from the shooting range will impact his business.

In addition to noise and wildlife issues, Rice said he's also concerned about impacts to his 70-foot deep well, which is about 50 feet downhill from the proposed shooting range.

"I spoke to the EPA on the phone, but they told me to go to a local level," he said. "It seems like the government is reluctant to be pro-active about this. They won't do anything until after my well is polluted."

Rice said there should be a law regulating gun clubs, and he was surprised the Flathead County commissioners and the Bissell School board can't do anything about it.

"I know parents of the school children are very concerned," he said. "If you de-sensitize school kids to that environment, then when something serious happens, they might not react."

Rice said the petition with 125 signatures opposed to the gun club should mean something to Hayes. He should give up the idea of a gun club and put in a golf course instead, Rice said.

"I guess it's because it's Montana," he said. "I have nothing against people shooting guns on their own property, but a gun range is different. Hayes won't be living there. He and his cronies will come down off the mountain and shoot up the neighborhood."