Local gun club scraps plans for rifle range near airport

August 31, 2012

Plans for a rifle range adjacent to the Guymon Police Department’s pistol range have been abandoned.

The No Man’s Land Rifle and Pistol Association asked the Guymon City Council to terminate its lease on the land at Thursday night’s city council meeting. Club spokesman Billy Eagan said the plans were scrapped due to circumstances beyond the club’s control.

“The club respectfully asks the Guymon City Council, the City of Guymon and the No Man’s Land Rifle and Pistol Association agree to terminate the lease of property adjacent to the police pistol range between the two parties,” Eagan said in a statement he read to the Mayor and City Council.

The main issue is potential problems from the Federal Aviation Administration due to the range’s proximity to Guymon Municipal Airport and is not without precedent. A gun range in Woodward was forced to close because of its location near the Woodward airport.

“The No Man’s Land Rifle and Pistol Association feels that with the potential of the Federal Aviation Administration to pressure the city with the possibility of the loss of funding, this is the best solution,” Eagan said. “The club’s most sincere appreciation goes out to the Guymon City Council, the City of Guymon, the Guymon Airport Board, the Guymon Flood Plain Board and many individual members of those organizations for their support, their encouragement and their hours of involvement in this process.”

The council voted 5-0 to terminate the lease.

The process began in January when the club applied for an Oklahoma Friends of the NRA Range Construction Grant. The club then received permission from the city council to begin planning and construction of a rifle range next to the city’s current police pistol range. The land lease was signed with the city in February.

In April, the city requested a construction and elevation plan, and the club spent the next month-and-a-half developing an elevation plan, met with the Department of Environmental Quality to determine what permits were required for a Floodwater Erosion Permit and developing a floodwater plan. The club received the Friends of the NRA grant money and construction approval from the Guymon Airport Board in late June, and discovered on July 13 that the construction plan would not require an Oklahoma Floodplain permit or a city building permit.

But on Aug. 10, the club received a call from an airport board member with concerns of the FAA action in Woodward, which led to the eventual abandonment of the club’s plans in Guymon.

In a letter to club members, committee members and club officers said the decision was not taken lightly.

“The NMLRPA Range Committee and Officers decided that the close proximity between the rifle range and airport could become an issue in the future that could render the facility unusable,” the letter said. “Knowing the actions taken by the FAA in Woodward, the Range Committee and Officers do not believe it is in the best interest of the club to spend club funds building a range on the proposed site.”

Eagan told the city council that the club is going to look into another site.

In other action:

•The city accepted an FAA grant for $403,870 for the taxiway maintenance project at the airport;

•Heard from Tony Blatt of Hornbeek Blatt Architects on the construction projects for the fire station, animal shelter and library. The projects are on schedule, with fire station the furthest ahead with 100 percent of the slabs poured and structural steel set to arrive soon. At the library, the underground utilities are done and slabs half-poured.

“That project is moving extremely rapidly,” Blatt said, with the slabs being finished and structural steel going up in the next week. “It’s going to really start to take form.”

At the animal shelter, the underground utilities are in place and the fittings are going in.

“All of the projects are moving along,” Blatt said.

•The council approved the final plat for Blossom Court Addition, which will be five single-family homes at NE 21st and Lelia;

•Approved the contract for Oklahoma Department of Transportation funding for operating assistance for The Ride.