WILTON — The Wilton Planning Board will listen to public views Thursday on Wilton Fish and Game Club’s plan to develop a 16-station shooting range.
The board will hold a public hearing on the expansion at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Academy Hill School cafeteria.
The meeting site was changed from the Town Office to the cafeteria, when over 45 people attended the board’s last meeting, at which members reviewed the site review application. Those attending were asked to wait for the hearing to speak.
After walking the site Jan. 19, the board scheduled a public hearing, as required before they can make a decision.
The Wilton Fish and Game Club obtained a federal grant of nearly $70,000 in 2013 to create a 50-yard range with 16 shooting stations for long rifles, pistols and archery, according to club member Arnold Borthwick.
A horseshoe-style berm is designed for safety at the new range and the adjacent 100-yard shooting range already there. Shots will be fired into the berm, which is 28 feet wide at the bottom and tapers to 4 feet at the top. It will be 12 feet high.
The club must raise about $25,000 to match the grant, Sharon Borthwick said.
Fundraising efforts stopped about two years ago because of concerns over a significant vernal pool on the property.
After considerable work with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the club has the DEP permit and now needs the Wilton permit to begin work July 1. Members hope to have the range in by late summer.
abryant@sunmediagroup.net
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