Dave Mabell
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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If city council wants the Lethbridge shooting range moved out of town, it could cost more than $18 million.
But that cost could be spread over the next decade, according to the Lethbridge Fish and Game Association. And the group's leased site, near new homes on the city's northside, could remain in use longer still.
Fish and Game president Rick Blakeley and range manager Allan Friesen will outline the group's funding request at a city council session Monday. Their presentation comes a week after council received reports about the latest "bullet strike" incident in a northside neighbourhood.
In their report to council, police confirmed the bullet which pierced the home's roof came from a pistol accidentally fired by a club member using one of the club's ranges in Peenaquim Park. In response, club officials told council last week, they temporarily closed their handgun range and "terminated" the member and the safety officer in charge that day.
Now the club will be back before council with a request for $3.5 million to purchase land somewhere outside the city - $2 million for the land, plus $954,000 to design a new range and another $575,000 for roads, utility installation and contingencies. In a written presentation, they say the first phase would be followed four years from now by a request for $9.6 million to actually build ranges for handguns, rifles and shotguns.
The second phase would also include design costs for an indoor shooting range and an adminstration area, they add. If council agrees four years from now, that phase would be undertaken between 2018 and 2021.
The project's third phase, for another $5.1 million, would cover the indoor range as well as a trap and skeet shotgun range. After it was complete, somewhere between 2022 and 2025, club officials say all gun ranges in Peenaquim Park would be closed.
While the group's experience in fundraising is limited, they add, it's possible members could raise $1 million of the $18 million expense.
At the same time, they add, all that expense could be spared by remaining in the city park indefinitely. The club's current lease with the city runs until 2036.
Fish and Game members' proposal will be competing with plans for a full-scale leisure centre, for new hockey rinks in the city and for a substantial list of other projects council is considering this spring before deciding on a new capital improvement program for the next four years.
Other organizations asking for financial support Monday include the Henderson Lake Golf Club, the Galt No. 8 Mine Historic Site Society and the Spitz Stadium Society.