PORT TOWNSEND — Sixty-eight people told Jefferson County commissioners their views on a proposed shooting range law during a packed public hearing that drew some 325 people.

The Monday hearing was continued to Thursday to allow all who want to speak to do so.

Many asked the commissioners to amend or start over on the draft Commercial Shooting Facility Ordinance, which would regulate existing and new facilities, including noise regulations and where shooting facilities can be sited.

Dan Newland of Port Hadlock said that the proposed new rules would lead to the closure of the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association (JCSA) shooting range at 112 Gun Club Road off South Jacob Miller Road in Port Townsend.

“This organization has been here for 56 years,” said Newland, a member of the association.

“It’s an asset to the community and has been generous to the community. Without any help, it is almost being wiped out for something irrelevant. The new regulations will ultimately close it down.

“It’s an organization that’s totally volunteer. We don’t have deep pockets. We provide a valuable resource to the community. Among other things, 14 percent of our time every Monday is given to law enforcement. It will cost the county a lot of money if they have to go someplace else to send deputies and other law enforcement people.”

William Cutting, a member of the 54-year-old JCSA, drove from Sequim to testify.

“I believe the requirements in the ordinance are an overreach of government and are onerous and would break the Jefferson County Sportsmen Association range as far as finances are concerned, ” Cutting said.

“They keep making references to commercial shooting facilities. JCSA is a nonprofit organization and should be treated differently because of our limited financial resources.

“We can’t comply with what’s required.”

Riley Parker of Quilcene, a member of the ordinance review committee that created the draft law, is a member of the Tarboo Ridge Coalition that formed in opposition to the development by Joe D’Amico, owner of the former Fort Discovery in Discovery Bay, of a proposed shooting facility on 40 acres near Tarboo Lake.

“We believe that there are some improvements to be made to the draft ordinance and we’ve already submitted some written comments,” Parker said.

“We are just here to talk about those. Everyone on the committee had a chance to hear how their opinions made it into the draft ordinance or didn’t.”

Alex Sidles of Bricklin & Newman LLP, an attorney representing the Tarboo Ridge Coalition, delivered written remarks to the commissioners which propose twelve essential changes to the draft ordinance.

The group opposes any attempt to re-designate commercial shooting facilities as something other than small-scale recreational tourist uses.

“The ordinance has to go back for some staff work,” Sidles said. “I urge you to consider our amendments.”

Nancy Wyatt of Quilcene said the ordinance is a good start but she urged the county to add regulation of indoor shooting ranges, which the present draft does not address.

“It has its inadequacies and I’m here to point those out,” she said. “I attended a couple of the meetings; very little time was given to indoor ranges. I’d like to redirect the committee to do some more research about indoor ranges. Some of the issues that will be discussed today could be eliminated with the idea that indoor ranges in Jefferson County could be supported.

In addition to Jefferson County residents, people from across the region attended, coming from Port Angeles, Sequim and Kingston.

Commissioner David Sullivan asked those gathered to be respectful of one another and the discourse was courteous and polite, with a few remarks drawing applause.

Forty-eight of those who spoke were connected to the JCSA; 17 represented views from the Tarboo Ridge Coalition; and three people gave general comments.

According to Mark McCauley, Jefferson County central services director, about 325 people went through metal detectors and vied for seats in one of four spots in the County Courthouse: courtrooms for Superior Court, District Court, commissioners’s chambers and the first-floor conference room. There was no room large enough in the building to accommodate the crowd. Real-time video of the proceedings was streamed into the rooms from Superior Court courtroom.

Several people were asked to wait when they arrived because the building was at capacity.

“No one was turned away,” McCauley said. “Everyone that came in the building was eventually seated. We queued them up, some sat outside.

“As room was created in this building, we brought them inside. At any given time there were between three and 15 people waiting. We got them in when space was available.”

D’Amico, owner of the area he wants to develop as the Cedar Hills Recreational Facility near Tarboo Lake, said that a fatality wreck at Eaglemount forced him to detour to Center Valley Road.

“I got here about 6:30, just before the meeting was scheduled to start,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I waited to get in but gave up. About 20 people walked away.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he said. “The guy that all of this is focused on can’t get into the meeting?

“I was told there were speakers streaming the meeting outside, but who wants to be outside? I listened for a bit, then decided to go home.”

“This just frustrated me to the core,” he said.

Several people felt they were disenfranchised and the commissioners voted unanimously to continue the hearing and set the meeting time at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the courthouse so everyone who wants to be heard would have the opportunity.

Greg Overstreet, attorney for D’Amico’s company Security Services Northwest, Inc. said he believes the meeting was illegal.

“You can’t refuse entry to anyone, and this might be a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act,” Overstreet said. “If people were turned away it may make this meeting null and void. It is indirect discrimination.”

The meeting was recorded and is on the county’s website at https://tinyurl.com/y8ju5jqg.

Written comments will continue to be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Friday. They can be addressed to P.O. Box 1220, Port Townsend, WA 98368 or e-mailed to jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us.

________

Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.