Shooting range legal wrangling continues

A neighborhood group that opposes a shooting range west of Whitefish has appealed a Flathead County Board of Adjustment ruling to Flathead District Court.

It’s the latest chapter of Tally Bissell Neighbors’ legal quest to convince officials that the shooting facility violates zoning regulations.

Flathead District Judge Katherine Curtis will consider the appeal.

The neighbors earlier this year filed a zoning complaint with the county Planning Office, alleging that Bill Hayes, the Texas businessman who initiated construction of the private range off Farm to Market Road, did not establish a use prior to zoning put in place in October 2007.

Therefore, they maintained, the shooting range doesn’t have a nonconforming use and is illegal.

Even if Hayes had established a use as a shooting range, the neighbors maintain he has illegally expanded that use into a “daily nonstop organized barrage of continuous explosions.”

After County Zoning Administrator Jeff Harris on Aug. 4 ruled Eyrie Shotgun Ranch did not violate zoning regulations, the neighbors appealed Harris’ decision to the Board of Adjustment. The board denied the appeal in October.

The neighborhood group earlier appealed a District Court ruling over the shooting range to the Montana Supreme Court.

Neighbors maintain the shooting range is a public nuisance that has prevented the sale of surrounding properties, startled animals and people and interfered with neighborhood business pursuits.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com