Some potential new rules for shooting ranges have emerged in the latest round of revisions that a consultant for the city of Burlington has proposed to the city’s five-and-half-year-old unified development ordinance.
Chad Meadows, who oversaw the ordinance’s creation in 2019, toted these proposed amendments on Monday when appeared before Burlington’s planning and zoning commission at its latest monthly meeting.
During his presentation to the commission, Meadows conceded that the ordinance currently lacks any provisions for shooting ranges, which essentially precludes their development in the city limits of Burlington. He went on to propose some new language that would allow both indoor and outdoor shooting ranges to operate within conditional zoning districts.
“We would suggest that this be a conditional use only,” the consultant went on to stress, “and the standards that we have set down are focused on safety and they’re focused on noise.”
Standard issues
In the case of indoor ranges, Meadows proposed a few, simple provisions to ensure soundproofing, controlled access, and the containment of bullet fragments. The consultant has recommended a far greater number of comparatively more detailed stipulations for outdoor ranges.
Among the proposed standards for outdoor ranges are a lot at least 10 acres in size; requirements for backstops, berms or retaining walls, and chain-linked fences, with dimensional specifications; and 100-foot zones of separation from neighboring properties, which would increase to 1,000 feet for houses and schools. Meadows has also suggested a prohibition on the use of explosives at outdoor ranges, the certification of at least one individual for “shooting range supervision,” and restrictions on the presence of minors except during events sponsored by law enforcement.
The commission’s members ultimately took issue with a number of the consultant’s suggestions. Charlie Beasley, the group’s vice chairman, was particularly skeptical about the need to mandate a “certified” site supervisor, which he said could be indirectly addressed with an insurance requirement that would allow the insurer to nail down the particulars for site supervision.
Beasley also argued for more flexibility in the proposed fencing requirement, and he flatly rejected the consultant’s proposed restriction on access to people under 18.
“I trust my 10 year old with a gun more than I trust most cops with a gun,” he added before proposing a rule that would allow minors to visit outdoor shooting ranges in the company of parents or guardians.
In the end, the planning commission voted 7-to-0 to send these proposed standards to Burlington’s city council along with the vice chairman’s concerns and recommendations. The prospective amendments are now slated to go before the council at its next monthly work session on Monday, April 14.
A flag on illegal signs
In addition, the commission agreed to pass on a raft of other tweaks and clarifications to the unified development ordinance, several of which are intended to bring the ordinance in line with recent changes in state statute. Another proposed revision would allow battery-charged security fences in mixed-use development districts, while several others would refine Burlington’s restrictions on signage.
One noteworthy signage restriction would prohibit businesses from placing banners, pennants, windsocks, and other “moving signs” on cars parked on the grounds of their operations. This provision is intended to close a loophole in the city’s ban on moving signs that the planning department contends is being exploited by some business owners.
Some members of the planning commission were worried that the allusion to “banners” and “pennants” in this provision would apply to the team pennants and flags that flutter from some vehicles as they tool around town. Jamie Lawson, the city’s planning director, tried to assure the group that these fluttering flags aren’t the target of this particular change.
“I think the issue that is trying to be addressed with this provision,” she added, “isn’t a flag but those windsock things that are banned in the city.”
Hospice rolls out the welcome mat
The city’s planning commission also gave a unanimous nod to a rezoning request that will allow the local hospice home to lease out some of its excess office space along Chapel Hill Road.
This request, which was also presented to the commission on Monday, would allow the AuthoraCare Foundation of Greensboro to accommodate medical offices and similar tenants at the Hospice and Palliative Care Center it operates at 918 Chapel Hill Road.
Sam Unsworth, a realtor who represents AuthoraCare, informed the commission’s members that this change will enable the organization to refill portions of its facility that have been vacant since the coronavirus pandemic, when much of its staff began working remotely.
“Since then, it has continued, and they are still working from home,” Unsworth went on to explain. “They basically have a 10,000 square foot office building and 2,000 square foot house that they would like to lease to other ‘like-kind’ industries.”
Unsworth has already erected a sign on AuthoraCare’s property that advertises the space that his client hopes to lease. But before the property owner can follow through on its plans, the city will need to tweak a conditional zoning designation that the council originally issued for this property in 2008.
The commission’s members voted 7-to-0 to recommend this request to Burlington’s city council.
