A 184-acre lot on Bakewell Mountain has become a battleground between those who want a new firing range there and neighbors who hate the idea of it being across the street from their children.
The controversial firing range, Dead Zero Shooting, was initially proposed by business partners Justin Whaley and Wade Batson early this spring. The idea has drawn the ire of residents on Retro Hughes Road who are worried about potential sound pollution and safety issues that might come with it.
As proposed, the shooting complex would include several firing lines, including a 600-yard line and shorter 100- and 50-yard lines. The pair say the facility would be state of the art, with protective berms that go above and beyond what is required to ensure public safety, and sound abatement features that would reduce any disturbance to the level of a quiet conversation at a restaurant.
"It's something we're doing extra because we really do want to be good neighbors," Whaley said.
On Thursday night, Whaley and Batson hosted a Regional Planning Agency meeting to address lingering concerns. The opposition came ready to rumble, and several families brought their children wearing shirts they printed for the fight.
"Opposed!" the black shirts read in red-and-white lettering. "No to a shooting range beside our families and children's play yards. Please move the range elsewhere."
The tone of the conversation at the new Sale Creek Fire and Rescue headquarters ranged from quiet debate to outright, frustrated hostility as both sides tried to be heard and understood.
"I'm going to fight this thing with everything I have until the end," said Scott Phillips as he bounced his infant son in his arms.
"I'm fighting for my kids. I'm going to teach my kids how to handle guns, but I don't want them feeling like they're growing up in a war zone."
Phillips said he and his wife have invested more than a quarter-million dollars in building their family's home on Retro Hughes Road, and the potential impact of having the range across the road is huge for them.
He said his kids were afraid to play in their own yard the day gunshots rang out in the sound test.
"They asked me, 'Daddy, is someone shooting at our house?'" he said.
Batson and Whaley said they understand the community's concerns, but that they looked into several locations and this was the most suitable location they had found in the county.
They said they have a right as citizens to build a business, and building a monitored range there could actually make the area safer since people already shoot guns there regularly without supervision. Batson said the area is littered with casings that were there long before they started looking into the property.
"Your kids are more in danger today than they would be with our range," he said to Phillips.
Another woman, Ashley Clayton, interjected that she and the other neighbors can't move their homes if the range goes in despite their protests.
If the proposal is accepted, she said, she'll have to live next to the range for good, unlike the owners, who will go back to their own communities every day.
"You get to go home to your own houses after work. That must be nice for you," she said.
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow on Twitter @emmettgienapp.