Officials back shooting range

Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 8, 2005

BOTHELL – The owners of the Kenmore Gun Range property shouldn’t be pressured into building hundreds of homes or condos, despite occupying 80 tempting acres of mostly vacant urban land, county officials said.

Instead, it should remain an oasis for shooters surrounded by hundreds of homes on culs-de-sac in the county’s urban core between Bothell and Brier.

Kevin Nortz / The Herald From left, Bill Krett, Ryan Jordan, Steve Becka and Steve Podleski take aim as they wait for a drill to begin. The shooting range also is used by area police departments, the Navy and the Coast Guard.

“We promised we would be an outdoor recreation area forever,” said Vic Alvarez, a board member of Wildlife Committee of Washington, which owns the gun club. “We provide a very necessary service not only to law enforcement and the military but to the community.”

The property owners face a proposal to change the zoning that would make the land even more valuable and increase the pressure to sell, said County Councilman Dave Gossett, who opposes allowing more homes on the gun range property.

“It’s been there a long, long, long time,” Gossett said. “I don’t want to pressure it to change.”

The land is owned by about 2,000 gun club members, whose dues pay the bills and who have no plans to sell the property.

“We’re a nonprofit club, and nobody can benefit from the assets,” Alvarez said. “There’s no incentive to sell. We paid $9,000 for that property, and it’s worth $10 million.”

The club bought the land in 1953, Alvarez said, when the area was undeveloped woods and dead-end roads. The property was designated open space in the early 1970s, Alvarez said.

Today, at least 500 homes sit within 300 yards of the property’s borders, Alvarez said.

Current zoning would allow about four homes per acre on the gun range property, similar to what’s allowed in the surrounding neighborhoods.

This spring, county staff and County Executive Aaron Reardon proposed rezoning the property, opening the door to allowing about 24 multi-family living units per acre, or 36 senior apartments per acre.

The property was proposed for a boost in growth as the county makes plans to handle a population of 930,000 people by 2025, county planner Michael Zelinski said. The land is large and could easily be redeveloped on a main road in the urban area.

The county Planning Commission and Gossett, whose district includes the range, oppose the proposal.

The property’s assessed value is $14.5 million, according to the county assessor’s office, but the land is now tax-exempt open space, which discounts the value to about $500,000.

The property was considered as a location for the Brightwater sewage treatment plant until King County officials pulled it from the list in 2001.

Gossett said he occasionally fields noise complaints about the shooting range, which has posted operating hours of noon to dusk on weekdays and 9 a.m. to dusk on weekends.

The property is needed for law enforcement practice and sport shooters, Gossett said.

As shooting ranges close around the region, the demand for Kenmore Gun Range increases, Alvarez said.

Bothell police use the range for lessons and calibration of new rifles, Bothell police Capt. Denise Langford said.

“It can be really difficult to find appropriate places to shoot,” she said. “It’s nice to have options open in rifle ranges, and it is certainly nice to have something that close.”

Area officers and SWAT teams from Everett, Lynnwood Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Bothell and Redmond, as well as the Navy and Coast Guard, have used the range for pistol and rifle exercises, Alvarez said.

They don’t have to pay, Alvarez said. “We think it’s in our best interest to have police who know how to shoot,” he said.

Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.