Archive: News

A public hearing to consider issuing a special permit to relocate trap, rifle, and handgun ranges at the Lansing Rod and Gun Club was held March 12, and what appeared to be a simple matter of relocating the ranges to protect Salmon creek from lead poisoning raised more concerns than it addressed.  Gun club attorney Michael Oropallo said the plan is in cooperation with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order to stop shooting lead shot into Salmon Creek and nearby wetlands and prevent lead from entering those areas.  But public concerns about existing lead contamination, local traffic, and locating new shooting ranges near a residence raised questions for Planning Board members.

"When the issue of shooting and lead deposition came up, the club immediately talked with the EPA about it," Oropallo explained to Planning Board members. "They voluntarily worked with the EPA.  In about 2014 we began talking with the EPA about ways to eliminate shooting that goes on into the creek and into the wetlands in the area."

The Lansing Road and Gun Club has been part of Ludlowville since the 1950s.  The approximately 150 member club owns 113 acres of land, with Salmon Creek running through the property as it winds its way to Cayuga Lake.  The existing shooting ranges have resulted in lead shot ending up in the woods by the creek, and presumably in the creek.  That led to an EPA Order to come up with a plan to stop shooting into the creek and environmentally sensitive areas.

"The Order provides options for the Club to stop lead shot from entering the wetlands area and the Creek. The Order also directs the Club to develop and implement an Environmental Stewardship Plan ('ESP') using EPA's Best Management Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges after the Club decides how best to stop lead shot from entering the wetlands area and the Creek (assuming it continues to operate)," wrote EPA Chief of RCRA Compliance Branch Leonard Voo in a letter to Planning Board Chair Tom Ellis.

Oropallo said the club considered erecting a shooting screen to catch the shot, but the current plan relocates the shooting ranges on the other side of Salmon creek so that shooters would aim away from the creek and wetlands.  He said that an integral part is an Environmental Stewardship Plan that involves bringing in a company that specializes in cleaning out lead shot from shooting ranges, about every five years.  The lead would then be recycled.

"The best thing we could come up with was a shooting screen, a curtain that stops the lead from going into the creek area," Oropallo said. "Then we had some bad flooding a year or a year and a half ago, so we went back to the EPA.  We met with a bunch of people and got surveyors out there.  We tried to reconfigure the shooting areas in a way that would mitigate the impact.  We tried to figure out how we could reconfigure the shooting field so it would shoot away from Salmon Creek and be a win-win for everyone."

But not all residents were on board with that plan.  Public comments included concerns about endangering local eagles and Ludlowville residents by lead poisoning, preventing taxable land from being destroyed, and protecting Cayuga Lake.  Planning Board members had also concerns about more than 50 years-worth of lead from the existing ranges, and were concerned that it would not be cleaned up.  They also considered traffic issues that would necessitate transporting shooters from the club house and parking area to the new ranges to the north of Salmon Creek.  The proximity of a residence to the proposed site of the new ranges was also a concern.

The discussion continued during the public comment period at Wednesday's Town Board meeting.  Lansing resident Steven Smith and Dryden resident John Berger expressed concerns about the nearby residence, the cost of clean-up, and lead in and around Salmon Creek from the the existing skeet shooting range.  Berger said his own tests showed more lead in the water than the EPA recommends people or animals be exposed to.  He accused the embattled EPA of pretending to do something it is not doing.

"It's really worse than doing nothing," he said.  "It's worse to pretend to be there to protect and do nothing  than it is to say 'I really can't help you here.'  I walked down that creek the day after a skeet event.  I could pick up handfuls of lead that was just sitting in little depressions.  It was sitting on both sides of the creek.  A lot of the lead is hitting the trees.  Some of it bounces back.  Some of it breaks branches.  You could smell smoke in the air the next day.  So the lead is on both sides of the creek, and that means it's falling in the creek."

Board members acknowledged that the new ranges are allowed uses in the zone, but wanted more details about how much of the property is in the flood plain.  Other concerns included parking solutions that would either require a shuttle from the existing gun club parking area to the new ranges, or a bridge across Salmon Creek to allow members to walk there.  Board members said they needed more detailed information before their next meeting, and Town Attorney Guy Krogh recommended getting an EPA official to address the Planning Board.

"We need to come up with an action plan for when we come back to these people," said Ellis. "We need scale drawings.  We need to show the 500 foot (distance) from this house, and this land.  We need a map of the wetlands designated there to show exactly where this is in relation to their existing lead shot fields.  The water test.  We need to have this ready for our next meeting."

That meeting is scheduled for next Monday, March 26th at 6:30pm.

v14i11