WILTON — The Planning Board tabled a site plan review for the Wilton Fish and Game Association’s new archery and gun range Thursday night because it was incomplete.
Apparently there was confusion as to whether it is a new range or an expansion, Chairman Michael Sherrod said. More information is needed, he said.
Association President Philip Maurais said it will be a new range built on land the club purchased a few years ago. The club is using grant funds to improve and make the range safer, he said.
The plan includes a horseshoe-style range with a 12-foot-high berm to prevent anything from being shot over it, he said.
As the board began working through a checklist of information needed for a completed application, an abutter to the club’s property on Route 2 raised an objection.
Quoting Maine hunting regulations, Mark Collins said there should be no shooting within 100 yards of a dwelling or farm structure without permission of the owner.
He said his property is posted, and he refused to give his permission. Collins also refused permission for club members to go on to his property to measure distances, a requirement of the application.
Sherrod said the board’s role was to enforce the zoning ordinance but asked Code Enforcement Officer Roger Williams to check with the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the Maine Municipal Association for range requirements.
Club member Tom Saviello suggested Williams also check state shooting range requirements.
The board agreed to consider holding a public hearing once the application is resubmitted.
Two other items on the board’s agenda were not discussed.
The town’s Water and Sewer Department site plan review for sewer plant upgrades was not ready for the board to review, Sherrod said.
An application for use of administrative office space from American Forest Management of Augusta was withdrawn prior to the meeting, Williams said. The application was for space at 942 U.S. Route 2 East in a building built by Kelly Dexter and purchased earlier this year by Jon Bubier of Farmington.
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