Ballwin Planning Panel Oks Amendment For Shooting Ranges

Ballwin's Planning and Zoning Commission took the first step Monday toward changing city code to allow an indoor shooting range to be built in the C-1 Zoning District, a move that would help pave the way for a range which would be located on a lot near Vlasis Park.

Monday's meeting was held at the Ballwin Golf Course while renovations are made to the multipurpose room that houses city government meetings at the Police & Courts center.

John Henderson, owner of American Arms, also in Ballwin, proposed the text amendment. P&Z members heard no opposition to the text amendment from the public, but had questions about how noise and environmental safety issues would be addressed. Henderson objected to an original limitation that would have essentially banned any noise related to gunfire or a facility's HVAC unit or noise that could be heard beyond the property borders.

Henderson's team said any noise someone might hear outside would sound like a "pop" and would be "extremely muffled". The idea of shooting ranges in general doesn't bother Commissioner Sue Theodore, who works as a child psychologist in schools, but allowing it near Vlasis Park was a problem. "I think parks are families, families with kids, that park is filled all the time and to me a shooting range does't go right next to because a park, when people think of parks, they think of relaxation, recreation, not next to a shooting range," she said.

Henderson and several in the audience who spoke in support of the amendment said safety measures, including concrete construction that would make it "a virtual impossibility" of having a bullets getting out of the building. With the exception of those with a concealed weapons permit, customers at the range would have to come and go with an unloaded weapon, Henderson said.

Backers also talked about a desire to be able to shoot at a range in the city, instead of having to travel to Arnold or Valley Park, and the economic impact of taking their money with them there.

The text amendment passed without opposition on the panel and now goes to the Board of Alderman for further review. A site-specific proposal to allow Henderson's project on the third lot of the former Rothman Furniture site was addressed in detail before being tabled to allow an issue related to frontyard parking to go before the Board of Adjustment, which could happen before the end of the month.