Politics

County poised to create taskforce on shooting range permits

By Bill Moss, Published: March 14, 2026

Shooting ranges, a land-use that for years has bedeviled Henderson County commissioners, Zoning Board of Adjustment members and homeowners near where they're proposed, could get harder to site in the county. 

At the behest of Chairman Bill Lapsley, the Board of Commissioners is expected on Monday to create a taskforce to evaluate the county's Land Development Code requirements for shooting ranges and recommend changes.

"The board has received public comment regarding concerns with locations and standards in the LDC for ranges in the county’s jurisdiction," a staff memo notes in a bit of an understatement.

Firing ranges have triggered widespread neighborhood uprisings wherever they’ve been proposed in recent years. Proposals to build ranges have either been withdrawn or shot down by either the Board of Commissioners or Zoning Board of Adjustment in the Macedonia Road area of Saluda, Pinnacle Mountain, Deep Gap and Blue Ridge Community College and most recently on Summer Road in Edneyville. Three of the proposals came from former Sheriff Charlie McDonald, who envisioned them as part of a large law enforcement training center. The training center never came to fruition and McDonald lost his re-election bid in 2018.

Last May, when developer Andrew Riddle announced plans for a firing range on a 12-acre site near the Polk County line, homeowners were confounded to learn that the county's zoning code permits both indoor and outdoor commercial ranges in all zoning districts. Homeowners, who collected more than 600 signatures on a petition opposing the Summer Road range, appealed a planning staff approval of the use to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The appeal became moot when Riddle withdrew the application.

Commissioners are expected to direct the taskforce "to review the standards and provide a recommendation to the commissioners within three months," according to the memo by Planning Director Autumn and Assistant County Manager Christopher Todd. Commissioners would appoint all six members of the advisory board, which is to include a representative of the sheriff's office, and would also designate the chair. The proposed taskforce is on the county commission's consent agenda, which is used for noncontroversial items not deemed to require discussion or debate.

Last May, Lapsley told Summer Road area residents on hand to speak against the shooting range 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."