Whether a shooting range business that has operated without permits in the Ada County foothills will be allowed to continue may hinge on wildlife wellbeing, wildfire risk, and audibility of the gunfire.
On Thursday night, the Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission voted to table discussion of a conditional use permit and master site plan for the range, located at 2250 W. Ourada Ranch Rd., to November 13. The decision followed nearly four hours of public testimony and commissioner discussion, with large numbers of people expressing support or opposition
Thursday’s hearing was the first for the range, which sits on land managed by Seven Gates Investments, L.P. As BoiseDev reported, the property owners and the shooting range business that operates there, Valiance Firearms Training, came under public scrutiny and a county investigation after neighbors shared their experiences of hearing frequent gunfire coming from the property. Like other types of businesses in Ada County, shooting ranges are a type of land use that requires obtaining a conditional use permit from the county and submitting a master site plan. However, the landowner’s representative has stated they do not believe they need one due to private use of the site, as BoiseDev reported…