Plans for shooting range heading to commission

Preliminary plans for an archery and shooting training center are moving from the city's Parks, Recreation and Beautification Committee to the full commission.

Committee members voted Monday to forward the Clovis Archery and Wing Shooting Training Center proposal as a means of seeking approval for grant applications that could help the $862,623, 82-acre project get off the ground.

The committee has estimated there would be a trap admission of $8 while the projection calls for archery admission of $6 to $7 daily. Additional charges would apply based upon the amount of rounds used during a shooting session, officials said.

"It will be located on Curry County Road CR 17," Clovis Parks and Recreation Director Mark Dayhoff said. "It will include a shooting trap and skeet range, an indoor archery range, sporting clays range, classrooms, a kitchen and bathrooms."

In March 2016, the committee voted in approval of a state constructed range, which officials, at the time, said would include roughly 720 acres used to build the site, calling for 100- and 200-yard ranges, military specs, in addition to action bays to shoot small firearms and four trap skeet overlay fields that would allow for hosting Amateur Trapshooting Association and National Skeet Shooters Association competitions. Meanwhile, in September, Mayor David Lansford introduced the idea of a proposal more narrow in scope that would not include tactical firearms, defensive training or long range shooting.

Assistant City Manager Claire Burroughes offered the following with regard to how the effort would be funded.

"It's 3-to-1," she said. "For every dollar the city puts in, the state would contribute three. It's federal money that will be coming down and state funding through the Department of Gaming and Fish. The city will certainly have to contribute to this project as well. We can help defray the cost by applying for the state and federal funding."

Officials said an environmental study would be needed in addition to the caveat of the facility being available for residents use.

"When we went to Santa Fe to talk with representatives from Game and Fish, they told us in order to receive funding, everything had to be open to the public," Parks and Beautification Committee Chairman Fidel Madrid said. "It can't be a private, membership-only operation. It has to be open four days per week or whatever is decided."

One element of concern raised was staffing, as the committee estimated one full time employee would be needed, with the remainder of personnel being volunteers.

"Getting volunteers is not as easy as it seems sometimes," Commissioner Tom Martin said. "Somehow there's going to have to be some type of muscle that makes sure that there is someone there. I don't know if anyone would willingly mislead and say they're going to be there and not show up, but I think it's going to be a difficult situation to say that someone is going to be there at all times."