Members of the North Alabama Shooting Association are questioning the motives of the City Council’s proposal to terminate the group’s lease on property used as a shooting range.

The North Alabama Shooting Association was formed in 1979 and has an unwritten agreement with the city to operate the range on property that was once home to the city’s landfill.

The association has 400 members who pay $50 annually to fire handguns and rifles at the range, which hosts nationally recognized competitions and provides a place for Sheffield police officers to train.

“Our club has a very good history of safety,” Association President Dwight Pilkilton said.

Rules are strictly enforced, he said, and there hasn’t been a shooting-related injury since the range opened.

But there are people who would like to see the range move outside the city limits, including City Councilwoman Janet McLeary and Ridge Pointe subdivision resident Mike Davis.

“I’m not comfortable with it in the city limits,” McLeary said. “People are not comfortable living that close.”

Davis said on clear days, the sound of gunfire almost sounds like residents “live near a military base.”

“I understand the people at the shooting club need a place to shoot,” Davis said. “It doesn’t need to be in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

Davis said it appears as if the use of the property has become an entitlement, rather than a privilege. Davis has given the council a petition signed by his neighbors asking the council to terminate the lease with the shooting club.

He said it’s difficult for realtors, such as McLeary, to sell lots or homes in the neighborhood, especially if potential buyers come on a day when there is activity at the range, which is normally Saturday and after noon Sunday.

McLeary said she has received complaints from residents in the Ridge Pointe subdivision about noise from the range.

“I think the time has come for it to be moved,” McLeary said.

Jerry Jones, a Tuscumbia businessman and club member, disagrees with the complaints about noise. Jones said he and several club members went into the middle of the neighborhood and had members fire various weapons at the range.

Members said they do not fire large-caliber weapons that make loud noises.

“We couldn’t hear anything,” Jones said. “The only thing we could hear was the recycling plant.”

Club members attending a council meeting last week offered to perform the same test for the council, but no one accepted the offer.

Jones questioned the council’s motives for wanting to close the range.

“There has to be a logical reason, otherwise they would not be trying to fight it,” Jones said. “I just think what they’re doing is wrong. Their biggest argument is the noise.”

Mayor Ian Sanford said he understands why the club does not want to move.

“It used to be a no-man’s land,” Sanford said of the area where the range is located. “There’s no other city that would allow this.”

Sanford said it’s time for the club to relocate.

Florence resident David Malone is a shooting association member who teaches young people shooting as a sport.

“It’s something I do with my family,” said Malone, who has been a member of the association for the past year.

Ashley McCarley, 14, of Florence, has been taking instruction from Pilkilton on how to fire a .22-caliber rifle.

“I’ve done a few competitions,” she said. “I like it because it gives me something to do and a way to spend time with people.”

Numerous members contacted the TimesDaily about what the club means to them and to the community.

“It’s been a good part of the community, and we’ve brought in people from out of town with the events we’ve hosted,” said John Stratton, an association member and manager of a downtown Sheffield business.

Some say closing the range will cost the city revenue from people who eat at local restaurants when they come in town for a shooting event.

Competitive shooters say they will no longer have a place to practice and hone their skills.

“I’ve been able to sharpen up my skills and know what I’m doing,” Florence resident Suzeann Grier said. “If you don’t practice, you’re kind of clumsy and you forget. I wonder if they thought how this protects the whole community.”

Pilkilton said there is another public range, but it’s south of Cherokee almost to the Mississippi state line. It’s also not managed like the one in Sheffield, he said.

Finding new land for a shooting range is difficult, he said. Available land always seems to be as far away and remote as the Cherokee range.

Council members said they will try to work out a compromise with the association and expect to address the issue at the Feb. 6 council meeting.

Sheffield Police Chief Greg Ray said police officers would have to use the Muscle Shoals or Colbert County sheriff’s ranges to train.

“Are we out there every day? No,” Ray said. “If we had to drive to Muscle Shoals or the county, we might not go as often. But we do need the facility. We’ve got to have somewhere to train.”

Russ Corey can be reached at 256-740-5738 or russ.corey@TimesDaily.com.