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INLAND FISH AND GAME RANGE CLOSES ###### Jim Matthews column-ONS ###### 06aug09
One of Southern California's oldest shooting ranges closes
By JIM MATTHEWS, Outdoor News Service
The Inland Fish and Game Conservation Association shooting range, one of the oldest public shooting facilities in Southern California, closed last Thursday due to a lawsuit filed by a developer who owns an adjacent property, according to Gene Crawford, Inland president.
The range was one of the last open-air facilities in Southern California that had rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting and has served over 25,000 shooters and hunters in each of the last few years. The 64-year-old club has 1,500 members, and it is located on 40 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in the Santa Ana River Wash on Orange Street in Highland. In 2004, the BLM granted the club an additional 20-year lease because of its sterling record in public safety and serving the community.
The lawsuit was filed in 2007 by Highland Fifth-Orange Partners LLC of Santa Ana, headed up by developer Hal Woods. The Woods' LLC purchased 22 acres due north of the club and then immediately set out to close the club down. The most recent lawsuit was Woods third attempt to close the historic shooting range, failing in his efforts to claim noise pollution and then ground water pollution by the shooting facility. His third effort was a two-pronged lawsuit. First he claimed the club created a public nuisance and was a threat to the local community from bullets or bullet fragments escaping from the range facility, and second he said there was 'trespass' by the club when lead shot from the shotgun shooting facility landed on a portion of his property.
Woods claimed that it would cost over a half-million dollars to bring his property up to environmental standards because of the range lead, but he has continued to tell the City of Highland it was a simple grading issue in pushing for approval of his development plans on the property. During court proceedings, experts hired by the range said the lead levels on the Woods property were under EPA guidelines, but Woods' hired expert said they were not.
In spite of this, Judge Christopher Warren of the Superior Court of San Bernardino issued a dizzying and baffling 20-plus page ruling on Monday, July 27, against the shooting facility on both aspects of the lawsuit, and the gates were rolled closed at the end of the day on Wednesday, July 29. The club was assessed $1.4 million in damages, and it has spent (or its insurance carriers have spent) about $1 million in attorney fees since the beginning of the problems with the 'new' neighbor.
This is a catastrophe for Southern California shooters, especially rifle shooters who have seen the closure of several shooting facilities in recent years and the ban on target shooting throughout the Angeles and Cleveland national forests. The Inland range was frequented by shooters from Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as the Inland Empire, because it was nearly the last and arguably best-managed range in region.
Crawford said the club's board of directors was currently looking at two nearby locations where a new facility might be built to replace the closed facility, but that is little solace for a three generations of shooters and hunters who have using the Orange Street facility.
One of Southern California's oldest shooting ranges closes
By JIM MATTHEWS, Outdoor News Service
The Inland Fish and Game Conservation Association shooting range, one of the oldest public shooting facilities in Southern California, closed last Thursday due to a lawsuit filed by a developer who owns an adjacent property, according to Gene Crawford, Inland president.
The range was one of the last open-air facilities in Southern California that had rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting and has served over 25,000 shooters and hunters in each of the last few years. The 64-year-old club has 1,500 members, and it is located on 40 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in the Santa Ana River Wash on Orange Street in Highland. In 2004, the BLM granted the club an additional 20-year lease because of its sterling record in public safety and serving the community.
The lawsuit was filed in 2007 by Highland Fifth-Orange Partners LLC of Santa Ana, headed up by developer Hal Woods. The Woods' LLC purchased 22 acres due north of the club and then immediately set out to close the club down. The most recent lawsuit was Woods third attempt to close the historic shooting range, failing in his efforts to claim noise pollution and then ground water pollution by the shooting facility. His third effort was a two-pronged lawsuit. First he claimed the club created a public nuisance and was a threat to the local community from bullets or bullet fragments escaping from the range facility, and second he said there was 'trespass' by the club when lead shot from the shotgun shooting facility landed on a portion of his property.
Woods claimed that it would cost over a half-million dollars to bring his property up to environmental standards because of the range lead, but he has continued to tell the City of Highland it was a simple grading issue in pushing for approval of his development plans on the property. During court proceedings, experts hired by the range said the lead levels on the Woods property were under EPA guidelines, but Woods' hired expert said they were not.
In spite of this, Judge Christopher Warren of the Superior Court of San Bernardino issued a dizzying and baffling 20-plus page ruling on Monday, July 27, against the shooting facility on both aspects of the lawsuit, and the gates were rolled closed at the end of the day on Wednesday, July 29. The club was assessed $1.4 million in damages, and it has spent (or its insurance carriers have spent) about $1 million in attorney fees since the beginning of the problems with the 'new' neighbor.
This is a catastrophe for Southern California shooters, especially rifle shooters who have seen the closure of several shooting facilities in recent years and the ban on target shooting throughout the Angeles and Cleveland national forests. The Inland range was frequented by shooters from Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as the Inland Empire, because it was nearly the last and arguably best-managed range in region.
Crawford said the club's board of directors was currently looking at two nearby locations where a new facility might be built to replace the closed facility, but that is little solace for a three generations of shooters and hunters who have using the Orange Street facility.
