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Public Hearing on Proposed Shooting Range Ordinance Meade County 10 AM Nov 22
November 22, 2022 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Tuesday morning (10 am) Nov 22nd, Meade County Commission has a public hearing on a proposed shooting range
ordinance for Meade County – The second reading before the Commission will be on
10 am on November 22nd, 2nd Floor of the Erskine Office Building, 1300 Sherman Street, Sturgis, SD 57785
SD GFP proposes to build a large shooting range at Elk Vale Road near Elk Creek in Meade County. Thus local folks have been asking the Commission for a shooting range ordinance for Meade County this year, before construction starts. PHAS is concerned as shooting ranges are de-facto lead mines and pose environmental risks. Lead bullets are deposited from guns and bullets are later reclaimed, but a shooting range does not have the level of protective environmental regulation that an actual mine does. Lead is a toxic substance with threat to the environment and human health. SDGFP did a very inadequate environmental assessment with very unclear disclosure of mitigations and totally inadequate response to comments. Link to final EA – https://www.fws.gov/media/rapid-city-shooting-range-final-ea
The County is finally going to adopt ordinances to govern the location and construction of such facilities (This is permitted by SDCL 21-10-32.. )
The first reading of the ordinance was Nov 8th. They made no changes at that date, but said they would study on it and perhaps make changes on the 22nd.
This ordinance gives the public an opportunity for better oversight of and public involvement in building of any shooting ranges in Meade County. Proposed ordinance: https://go.boarddocs.com/sd/meade/Board.nsf/files/CJWLBH55AA5B/$file/Proposed Shooting Range Ordinance.pdf
For more information on the shooting range issue visit our web site: https://phas-wsd.org/action-alerts/
We had a meeting on this topic – recording https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/694666859
We hope to have some talking points specific to draft ordinance, posted on our web page before the 22nd.
Or contact Nancy. We have a list serve for this issue.
Written comments for the Meade County Commission can be posted on: https://www.meadecounty.org/commission
A list of Commissioner contacts is also on this web page, there are 5 of them:
Todd Seaman <tseaman@meadecounty.org>,
Rod Bradley <rod.bradley@meadecounty.org>,
Doreen Creed <dcreed@meadecounty.org>
Staff person in charge who can be sent a letter and ask her to share with all of them: – Rhea Crane – <rcrane@meadecounty.org>,
A Meade County Commission hearing on SDGFP petition to relocate a section line that bisects the proposed shooting range may be heard in mid December