Politics

Homeowner uprising again dooms a firing range

Janae Daley implores county commissioners to block plans for a gun range on Summer Road in Edneyville. [SCREENSHOT OF BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING]

By Bill Moss, Published: May 27, 2025

The developer who applied for a permit to build a commercial shooting range on Summer Road dropped the plans last Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after neighboring homeowners implored the Henderson County Board of Commissioners to prevent the disruptive land use.

Andrew Riddle, a commercial real estate broker, issued a statement saying that he had been scouting for a suitable site for a gun range ever since commissioners eased zoning restrictions on them in 2021.

“While not able to fully realize the finished design of the range, and safety measures that would be in place, I understand the deep concerns of the surrounding communities of residents so I have concluded I will be withdrawing my application for the project,” Riddle said.

Riddle, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Board of Commissioners in 2014, had set up an awkward situation, optics wise, when homeowners announced they intended to challenge a development permit the county’s Technical Review Committee authorized on May 6. The appeal would have been taken up by the county Zoning Board of Adjustment, which Riddle chairs.

Homeowners who live near the proposed firing range site were elated that they dodged a land-use bullet.

“It’s fantastic. It’s great the commissioners listened to our concerns,” said Dan Kinkel, one of the organizers of the opposition. “I assume they did their job and talked to Andrew. The people had a voice and the county listened and it worked out.”

‘Would you buy a home in this area?’

Riddle’s retreat came less 24 hours after residents of the rural community in Edneyville near the shooting range site packed a Board of Commissioners meeting; 17 of them rose to beg commissioners to stop the firing range.

Frank Wood urged commissioners to read “subsection 42.330, as well as the exception provision to the noise ordinance in 18.4.a.3.”

“There is a long held tradition in this country that ordinary citizens do not have to bury themselves in the minutia of county ordinances because we elect officials who have the duty to ultimately act in the common good. But that has not happened here,” Wood said before playing a  recording of gunfire made outside the 1,000-foot buffer the county ordinance requires.

“I ask you, is this noise reasonable to occur seven days per week, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.? Would you buy a home in this area with that level of noise? As an active North Carolina Realtor, I can assure you that our property values will take a dramatic hit. The vast majority of those vacant residential lots are gonna become yours,” he told commissioners. “Why? What fool would keep paying taxes on property they could never sell or develop.

“You have a wonderful chance to correct an error and to demonstrate that Henderson County is willing to work with citizens so that we can all have a bright future.”

‘A major safety concern’

Noting that the main task on their docket last Wednesday was to draft a 2025-26 budget, homeowner Mike Read advised commissioners “to appropriate some funds towards potential litigation that may be headed your way. We may be talking about millions of dollars.”

“I’ve worked for an international technology company for the last 30 years and I can tell you this is the worst technical review I've ever seen,” Read added. “The site survey is significantly deficient on many fronts.”

Young families, too, urged commissioners to stop the gun range.

“My family and I live at the end of Summer Road,” Megan Masters said. “Our house is exactly 1,000 feet from this proposed gun range. This is a major safety concern, as we have a 6-year-old child who regularly rides his four-wheeler outside, 300 feet from this proposed gun range. He will no longer be able to do that.”

Noting that the zoning ordinance allows commercial firing ranges to operate 11 hours a day, seven days a week, she asked, “Does Hendersonville no longer guarantee the right to quiet enjoyment?”

The mother of five children — “all of whom play, learn and grow right here in this community” — Janae Daley holds a degree in early childhood development.

“I’m here today to speak not just as a parent, but as an advocate for all the children and families in this community,” Daley said as she soothed the baby she was holding on her shoulder. “Placing a gun range at a high elevation poses serious risks, not only because of the noise, but because of how sound travels farther and louder from the top of a mountain. With fewer obstacles to absorb the sound, the gunshots are going to carry miles in every direction.”

“I urge the board to reconsider, because once this is built, there’s no turning back,” she said. “It shows incredible negligence to allow a gun range to be put in our neighborhood, knowing the harm it does to the entire surrounding community. But if we say no now we protect our children’s health, their play and everybody’s peace of mind, and make sure that everybody is comfortable and safe in their own homes.”

‘We hear you,’ Lapsley says

Although he stopped short of saying he had urged Riddle to drop his application for a permit, board Chair Bill Lapsley assured the Summer Road residents that he understood their concerns.

“We hear you,” he said. “On behalf of my colleagues, we have received numerous emails pointing out the issues that you’ve discussed this morning. We’ve recognized that we are following the process that our ordinance has at the moment. We understand that an appeal is pending to the Zoning Board of Adjustment on this matter.”

He said he thought all five commissioners had driven to the area to check it out.

“I know I have voiced my concerns to Mr. Riddle, but at this point we are discussing the matter with legal counsel, and we’ll see what transpires as a result of the appeal,” he said.

The Summer Road firing range became at least the fifth shooting range for commercial or law-enforcement use to be shot down in the court of public opinion since 2010. Others had been proposed and shot down in the Deep Gap community, on Pinnacle Mountain, on Macedonia Road near Saluda and at BRCC.

Less than 24 hours after yet another rural uprising against target shooting, Riddle pulled the shooting range plans.

“My objective has been to identify a site that fully complies with all relevant ordinance requirements while also placing safety measures for surrounding land, streams, and noise for the impact of such a facility,” he said in a news release. “I remain committed to finding a more remote and appropriate location—one that both satisfies regulatory standards and minimizes disruption to the residents of Henderson County.”

It would appear those two goals — meeting regulatory standards and minimizing disruption — are becoming more out of reach. It becomes plainer by the day that when it comes to a commercial firing range, no site is remote enough.