Huntington Beach considers opening new gun range

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City and police officials want to band together

with the Army Corps of Engineers and other law enforcement agencies to

build a new gun range and training center for use by officers and the

public.

In a subcommittee meeting Dec. 6, city officials decided to apply for

a Joint Task Force Six grant, federal funds aimed at helping city law

enforcement agencies coordinate with federal law programs in the war

against drugs.

Ron Hagan, the city’s director of community services, said the grant

would provide the money to build the gun range, leaving only design and

land costs up to the city.

Approval for the grant application is still needed from the City

Council before it may be submitted to federal officials.

City officials said the new gun range will be state-of-the-art,

featuring a 38,600-square-foot indoor shooting area with noise control

and filters to clear the air of lead dust, as well as a

25,425-square-foot outdoor area for physical exercises and training that

does not involve the firing of any weapons. The facility would cost an

estimated $3 million to $4 million, they added.

“It’s so critical to our training mission,” said Huntington Beach

Police Chief Ron Lowenberg. “With the community continuing to grow,

there’s a lack of space to build these kinds of facilities, and to have

the federal agencies take part ... it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Huntington Beach officers train in Fountain Valley, but officials with

that city’s police force are planning to close their gun range in the

future to make way for a newer facility. Though Fountain Valley police

plan to keep the range open until a new one is operational, some

Huntington Beach officials believe that a local training center offers

more benefits than just training.

It means a larger law enforcement presence in the city, with drug

enforcement, U.S. Customs, border patrol and other agencies interested in

using the center, they added.

Hagan said that a cooperative effort between the city and three school

districts is underway to find a suitable site for the new gun range.

As part of the overall plan, the Huntington Beach Union High School

District and the city’s elementary district, as well as the Fountain

Valley School District, have been trying to consolidate each of their bus

centers into a single transportation hub.

District and city officials are in negotiations to purchase 6.8 acres

from the Randall Lumberyard on Gothard Street for a gun range and and bus

center. The land is too big for either use alone, but could suit both

comfortably, Hagan added.

There are also ongoing efforts to negotiate eight acres, previously

used as a county waste transfer station, on Gothard Street, south of

Talbert Avenue, as another possible location.

The city’s original gun range opened in 1967 to serve city police, the

public and other law enforcement agencies with a firearm training and

qualification arena.

Nestled in an undeveloped portion of Central Park, south of Talbert

Avenue and near the future youth sports facility, the gun range was an

open-air firing center with separate ranges for public, pistol and rifle

training.

Three years ago, the range was shut down by the city, citing safety

and environmental concerns.

City officials said an errant bullet shot in the outdoor gun range

broke a widow in a house just north of Central Park, giving rise to

safety concerns. In addition, the center was built on a former landfill

where methane from decomposing waste caused sinkholes and ground

instability.

Thirty years of use has also resulted in lead contamination of the

area, the cleanup of which is believed by some council members to be the

responsibility of the city’s police officers union, because it managed

the gun range. The city approved cleanup efforts during the Dec. 4 City

Council meeting.

The city has until the end of January to apply for the grant to

qualify for the 2001-02 funds, with the long-term project estimated to be

completed by 2005.

SHOOTING FACILITY

Should another gun range be allowed to open in Huntington Beach? Leave

your thoughts on our Readers Hotline at 965-7175, fax us at (714)

965-7174 or e-mail us at o7 hbindy@latimes.comf7 . Please include your

name and city where you live.