That range I was talking about last year......need some questions answered.

[Guest TankerHC]

I have been looking for a while now, over a year and think I MIGHT have a location. Spoke to the owner tonight at his home (He may very well be a member here), the property is available and I could feasibly have it open as a private range in about a month. I already looked at the land today, but there are some questions I need answered. I will be going to the County Courthouse tomorrow to make sure I can do it before signing the purchase contract. Plus the wife wants to look at it.

 

I have two other options but this seems to be the most feasible. Not going to make a move however until I have all of my ducks in a row. 

 

So here are some questions. Hoping with some of this expertise here in property, construction costs, etc can be answered. 

 

 

The property is about 9 acres.The tract is layed out at these dimensions. At the front of the property it is 627 feet wide. it narrows until at the back it is 561 feet wide. The right border is 706 feet and the left is 681 feet long. 

 

So here are a few issues (questions).

 

According to TN State law, any range needs to be no less than 180 feet from any adjoining residential property. There is 8 acre tracts on either side, on the back side is a small subdivision. The property is in McMinn County, a few miles outside of Athens, outside the city limits.

 

1. According to the TN State law on building a range, under Tn Code 39-17-316 the location meets State Requirements of the statute. But State law covering ranges seems to only cover public ranges. Makes no mention of private ranges, that I have been able to find. So does anyone know if am I bound by the same statute for a private range on my own property as public ranges under the above Statute?

 

2. According to the Statute, the range can be no less than 180 feet from a residential boundary. As mentioned the property is 627 feet wide at the "front", but it goes up a hill at around 350-400 feet from the back side, cuts through a treeline on the hill, then there is another couple of hundred to 300 feet out front of that, another treeline, then there is a farm in front of that. So what I am looking at (Under the statute) is a range no more than 267 feet wide and no further than 220 feet long (shooting at no more than about 75 yards). The rules on distantce to county roads is covered (180 feet) would be covered (The road is more than 700 feet from where the range would be) and the East-West-North-South boundaries would also be covered as the range would be pretty much centered. 

 

3. Out front of the hill is the rest of the property, the boundary, another treeline, then the other persons farm. I see no requirements for a minimum backstop, but just from eyeballing the hill looks to be about 75 foot high. Its gradual but not too gradual and would make a perfect natural backstop with pistol calibers, don't know about rifle calibers but the hill as a natural backstop is much higher than the berms at the Rifle and Pistol club range I used to go to and there were plenty of houses on the other side of that range that were much closer (plus an interstate). Do you all think that safely, you could shoot there using the hill as a natural backstop, without having to worry about ricochets over the hill which would take some distance to get to residential property? 75 yards might be good for zeroing (or?) or I suppose I could limit calibers for anyone who would shoot there. Shotguns about anywhere on the property would not be much of an issue. 

 

4. Noise. Under the Statute, (A) and ( B), noise doesn't even seem to be an issue, however, I haven't gotten around to reading the nuisance statutes yet. Either way I would want to be a good neighbor and not bother the people in the subdivision. The closest house to the range, the way I envision the range, would be probably somewhere between 100-200 yards. The closes house is at a corner of the property up on a hill. So what options would there be to limit noise even more than just distance that wouldn't cost me a fortune? I was thinking a dirt berm on whichever side of the range is to the nearest house and possibly in the back. Are there any other options? On one of the chapters of the statutes it does say that the purpose of the statute is to limit local governments from  stopping sport shooting, this "( B) (1) A person who operates or uses a sport shooting range is not subject to civil or criminal

liability for noise or noise pollution, nuisance or any other claim not involving physical injury to another human, resulting from the operation or use of the sport shooting range as a sport shooting range if the sport shooting range is in compliance with any applicable noise control laws, resolutions, ordinances or regulations issued by a unit of local government, that applied to the range at the time that the range began operation.

 

That "began" part is only for established public and private ranges. There was an amendment. New ranges are of course, subject to noise ordinances and the range can be caused to cease operation for violating those ordinances. I would hate to spend money on almost 9 acres of land only to be told I could no longer use it.

 

What other things do I need to take into consideration? I have helped design and build tank ranges and some small arms ranges, I already drew a danger area diagram (basic) on the survey, I personally do not see any danger areas unless one of the owners of the adjacent properties builds a house downrange, which is unlikely.

 

So a few more follow up questions.

 

Assuming I build a berm behind the range limit, since I do not know what dirt costs. If someone who does know, and can do the math, how much dirt and an estimate of cost for building a berm about 5 feet thick, 7 feet tall by say 100 feet wide?

 

The roads going through the property are dirt, but they are well defined. I would think gravel would be a good option. If it rains you are getting in and out only with a 4 wheel drive, gravel would negate that. With gravel pretty much anyone could drive on those roads. I would think graveling the road down to the treeline, which is about 400 feet and across the backside, another 300 feet, and probably a small parking area, so what (approximately) am I looking at paying for 700 feet of gravel on a little wider than a single lane road and maybe a 75x75 foot parking area?

 

A couple of other things I have been considering. 

 

I have BEEN TOLD, so dont take my word for it, that there have been some pretty good size deer taken in the area. With the open space and the two treelines, thinking maybe if one or two people at a time wanted to bowhunt (That was suggested to me) there, they could, freely.

 

Camping might be an option if anyone wanted to do it, I wont have any problem pulling my travel trailer down there. The property is in the county, but has City water and electricity available. 

 

 

And a couple of final questions. Is there anyone here that lives in the area that would want to shoot there if I buy and build it?  

 

Is there anyone here who lives in the area that would be interested in helping maintain it? Or we could do like we did out our R&P club, if your out there with down time, simply pick up the trash before you leave.

 

Is there anyone here with a bush hog that would be interested in helping me clear it? Although is flat and level up to the hill, there is quite a bit of brush that needs to be cleared up. 

 

You could pretty much go out there right now, set up a target and shoot and no one would bother you and probably no one would even hear you. But I have been shooting on a range that I would like to copy. This whole thing may be a wash depending on what County says tomorrow. But if it's a go, Im probably going to go ahead and do it. But dont see a reason to if no one else wants to shoot on it since Im not real interested in going out and shooting by myself all the time, I get to do that now. Would like to own the land though, Im sure I could figure something to do with it. 

 

I have some other ideas, Ill post later if there is any interest, I can get it done and start doing it. I actually wanted to get closer to Chattanooga, but almost everything I found there has too many built up areas close by. 

 

Im going to scan in the survery and take a shot of the property through Google Earth. Wont post it, but if anyone wants to take a look (You might live behind it, who knows), Ill message it to you.

 

Any and all comments, opinions, and suggestions are welcome, both positive and negative. Want to hear the bad as well as the good if it will save me from doing something that might "not work out".

 

Thanks

 

J

 

 

 

 

 

[TripleDigitRide]

I can't help much, but a friend of mine in Kentucky built a personal range on his property, and instead of buying dirt, he posted some ads online that he would allow people to dump unwanted dirt on his property. It took about 2 months, but he managed to find enough people (thanks to two or three dump trucks) who needed a place to dump some dirt. He had all of the dirt dumped right where he wanted the berm, so all he had to do was smooth it out with the tractor.

[Guest tdoccrossvilletn]

I have been looking for a while now, over a year and think I MIGHT have a location. Spoke to the owner tonight at his home (He may very well be a member here), the property is available and I could feasibly have it open as a private range in about a month. I already looked at the land today, but there are some questions I need answered. I will be going to the County Courthouse tomorrow to make sure I can do it before signing the purchase contract. Plus the wife wants to look at it.

I have two other options but this seems to be the most feasible. Not going to make a move however until I have all of my ducks in a row.

So here are some questions. Hoping with some of this expertise here in property, construction costs, etc can be answered.


The property is about 9 acres.The tract is layed out at these dimensions. At the front of the property it is 627 feet wide. it narrows until at the back it is 561 feet wide. The right border is 706 feet and the left is 681 feet long.

So here are a few issues (questions).

According to TN State law, any range needs to be no less than 180 feet from any adjoining residential property. There is 8 acre tracts on either side, on the back side is a small subdivision. The property is in McMinn County, a few miles outside of Athens, outside the city limits.

1. According to the TN State law on building a range, under Tn Code 39-17-316 the location meets State Requirements of the statute. But State law covering ranges seems to only cover public ranges. Makes no mention of private ranges, that I have been able to find. So does anyone know if am I bound by the same statute for a private range on my own property as public ranges under the above Statute?

2. According to the Statute, the range can be no less than 180 feet from a residential boundary. As mentioned the property is 627 feet wide at the "front", but it goes up a hill at around 350-400 feet from the back side, cuts through a treeline on the hill, then there is another couple of hundred to 300 feet out front of that, another treeline, then there is a farm in front of that. So what I am looking at (Under the statute) is a range no more than 267 feet wide and no further than 220 feet long (shooting at no more than about 75 yards). The rules on distantce to county roads is covered (180 feet) would be covered (The road is more than 700 feet from where the range would be) and the East-West-North-South boundaries would also be covered as the range would be pretty much centered.

3. Out front of the hill is the rest of the property, the boundary, another treeline, then the other persons farm. I see no requirements for a minimum backstop, but just from eyeballing the hill looks to be about 75 foot high. Its gradual but not too gradual and would make a perfect natural backstop with pistol calibers, don't know about rifle calibers but the hill as a natural backstop is much higher than the berms at the Rifle and Pistol club range I used to go to and there were plenty of houses on the other side of that range that were much closer (plus an interstate). Do you all think that safely, you could shoot there using the hill as a natural backstop, without having to worry about ricochets over the hill which would take some distance to get to residential property? 75 yards might be good for zeroing (or?) or I suppose I could limit calibers for anyone who would shoot there. Shotguns about anywhere on the property would not be much of an issue.

4. Noise. Under the Statute, (A) and ( B), noise doesn't even seem to be an issue, however, I haven't gotten around to reading the nuisance statutes yet. Either way I would want to be a good neighbor and not bother the people in the subdivision. The closest house to the range, the way I envision the range, would be probably somewhere between 100-200 yards. The closes house is at a corner of the property up on a hill. So what options would there be to limit noise even more than just distance that wouldn't cost me a fortune? I was thinking a dirt berm on whichever side of the range is to the nearest house and possibly in the back. Are there any other options? On one of the chapters of the statutes it does say that the purpose of the statute is to limit local governments from stopping sport shooting, this "( B) (1) A person who operates or uses a sport shooting range is not subject to civil or criminal
liability for noise or noise pollution, nuisance or any other claim not involving physical injury to another human, resulting from the operation or use of the sport shooting range as a sport shooting range if the sport shooting range is in compliance with any applicable noise control laws, resolutions, ordinances or regulations issued by a unit of local government, that applied to the range at the time that the range began operation.

That "began" part is only for established public and private ranges. There was an amendment. New ranges are of course, subject to noise ordinances and the range can be caused to cease operation for violating those ordinances. I would hate to spend money on almost 9 acres of land only to be told I could no longer use it.

What other things do I need to take into consideration? I have helped design and build tank ranges and some small arms ranges, I already drew a danger area diagram (basic) on the survey, I personally do not see any danger areas unless one of the owners of the adjacent properties builds a house downrange, which is unlikely.

So a few more follow up questions.

Assuming I build a berm behind the range limit, since I do not know what dirt costs. If someone who does know, and can do the math, how much dirt and an estimate of cost for building a berm about 5 feet thick, 7 feet tall by say 100 feet wide?

The roads going through the property are dirt, but they are well defined. I would think gravel would be a good option. If it rains you are getting in and out only with a 4 wheel drive, gravel would negate that. With gravel pretty much anyone could drive on those roads. I would think graveling the road down to the treeline, which is about 400 feet and across the backside, another 300 feet, and probably a small parking area, so what (approximately) am I looking at paying for 700 feet of gravel on a little wider than a single lane road and maybe a 75x75 foot parking area?

A couple of other things I have been considering.

I have BEEN TOLD, so dont take my word for it, that there have been some pretty good size deer taken in the area. With the open space and the two treelines, thinking maybe if one or two people at a time wanted to bowhunt (That was suggested to me) there, they could, freely.

Camping might be an option if anyone wanted to do it, I wont have any problem pulling my travel trailer down there. The property is in the county, but has City water and electricity available.


And a couple of final questions. Is there anyone here that lives in the area that would want to shoot there if I buy and build it?

Is there anyone here who lives in the area that would be interested in helping maintain it? Or we could do like we did out our R&P club, if your out there with down time, simply pick up the trash before you leave.

Is there anyone here with a bush hog that would be interested in helping me clear it? Although is flat and level up to the hill, there is quite a bit of brush that needs to be cleared up.

You could pretty much go out there right now, set up a target and shoot and no one would bother you and probably no one would even hear you. But I have been shooting on a range that I would like to copy. This whole thing may be a wash depending on what County says tomorrow. But if it's a go, Im probably going to go ahead and do it. But dont see a reason to if no one else wants to shoot on it since Im not real interested in going out and shooting by myself all the time, I get to do that now. Would like to own the land though, Im sure I could figure something to do with it.

I have some other ideas, Ill post later if there is any interest, I can get it done and start doing it. I actually wanted to get closer to Chattanooga, but almost everything I found there has too many built up areas close by.

Im going to scan in the survery and take a shot of the property through Google Earth. Wont post it, but if anyone wants to take a look (You might live behind it, who knows), Ill message it to you.

Any and all comments, opinions, and suggestions are welcome, both positive and negative. Want to hear the bad as well as the good if it will save me from doing something that might "not work out".

Thanks

J

You realize there is a shooting range in Rhea County right? Isn't that where you live?

Sent from my mind using ninja telepathy.

[Guest TankerHC]

You realize there is a shooting range in Rhea County right? Isn't that where you live?

Sent from my mind using ninja telepathy.

Yes. And I shoot on it. But it belongs to someone else. Can't do what you want on someone else's property

 

Like outlaw steel matches for example

Edited October 10, 2013 by TankerHC

[Guest tdoccrossvilletn]

Yes. And I shoot on it. But it belongs to someone else. Can't do what you want on someone else's property

Like outlaw steel matches for example

True,



Sent from my mind using ninja telepathy.