PUSLINCH – Neighbours of the Galt Sportsmen’s Club came to council on May 1 to discuss issues they are having with the gun range.
In a word, noise.
The club has grown in membership, from 120 members when it started in the 1950s to about 2,000 members today.
It has also increased its hours, running seven days a week from sunrise to sunset most of the year.
“The noise is well over the guidelines now,” said Scott Bartles, who delegated along with his neighbour Olinda Dasilva.
Both live on Gore Road near the gun club.
“We are not able to have reasonable enjoyment of our property anymore. We can’t sit out in the summer, and we have to keep our windows closed all the time,” said Bartles.
Dasilva said she moved to her home in 2007, long after the gun club was well established. She said she’d hear noise but it wasn’t an issue.
“It was audible but not intrusive,” she said.
Over the years, however, “It has become unbearable,” she said. “It’s disheartening that the club grows and expands, even after repeated concerns from neighbours.
“We need your assistance,” she continued. “We need you to examine the new (noise) bylaw and regulate the gun ranges in accordance with provincial guidelines.”
The Galt Sportsmen’s Club offers archery, fishing, clay targets, indoor shooting ranges and an outdoor rifle range to its members and their guests.
“Our club remains dedicated to promoting safe sport shooting and have some of the finest equipment and facilities available, becoming one of the best sport shooting ranges in North America,” it states on its website.
Dasilva said she has reached out to the club repeatedly and has asked to meet with the board of directors to discuss the noise issue.
She showed video taken on a weekend at 9am. The image shows a decibel reader that jumps from 40 or 50 decibels up to 90 decibels in some instances when guns go off in the distance.
She said it’s so loud now, she can still hear shots while indoors with windows closed and the shower running.
Bartles noted the club added some berms near its rifle range to contain any shrapnel, but because the gun club is on a higher elevation, the berms do little to contain the noise.
Dasilva said she planted some cedars on her property line, but it will be many years before they are big enough to absorb much sound.
Councillor Russel Hurst said he’d like the Galt Sportsmen’s Club to delegate to council and explain what’s happening there.
Mayor James Seeley wanted clarity on what the delegation was asking of council.
“You’re not asking for no noise, just a prescribed reduction to a standard,” he said as the delegates nodded in agreement.
“My interest is not putting them out of business.”
Seeley said he thinks the club should be required to notify neighbours of special events and the township should set a policy of no new gun clubs and a special policy to help manage this one.
Councillor John Sepulis put forward a motion for staff to develop a bylaw regarding the gun club – to establish acceptable decibels in consultation with the Grand River Conservation Authority, the community, the gun club and any other necessary organizations.
Council approved the motion. Staff said it would likely be the fall before anything will return to council.
Bartles and Dasilva recognized events are already posted on the gun club website for this summer and those will likely proceed as planned.
Still, “this is a step in the right direction,” Bartles said.
The Advertiser reached out to the gun club but did not receive a reply by press deadline.
