ORANGE BEACH — The site plan for the new Orange Beach Shooting Sports Complex facility was approved by the Orange Beach Planning Commission at their Dec. 9 meeting but was faced with disapproval from area residents.

Residents said the current site plan, at 23173 Russian Road, was lacking certain features they think would be beneficial to the complex, such as paved roads surrounding the area (apart from some parking spaces) and sound buffers to decrease the noise output from the gun range.

Robert Stuart, chairperson of the committee, confirmed the road is a county road and that there is no noise ordinance in place for the location.

The overall site plan includes a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse, a 1,200-square-foot storage shed and an 11,000-square-foot safe room building for up to 249 first responders to evacuate the island when a natural disaster strikes.

Currently, the site is being used by the Orange Beach Police Department (OBPD) and Orange Beach Middle/High School (OBMHS) Shooting Team for practice. Some residents say they are concerned about the increased number of people the new facility could attract to the area.

"I've lived out there for 30 years," resident Henry Peters said. "It's a dirt road. Y'all want to put that kind of traffic on a dirt road?"

Jack Robertson, one of the commissioners, said "it's on the books" for that road to be paved.

"Well, we've been hearing that for 10 years," Peters said in response.

Most of Peters's complaints included the infrastructure surrounding the development, such as there being no running water to the area as households rely on well water. He, like the other residents, talked mostly of the noise that comes from the shooting.

Since the area is not protected by any fencing or other boundaries other than a gate blocking cars from entering, it is possible that anyone could access the shooting range whenever it is convenient for them. Just because there's firing does not necessarily mean that it is from the police department or school.

The planning commission could not do much with the questions and concerns as Stuart said their job is simply to decide if the site plan is "meeting all of the requirements to build" in this case.

Regardless, Stuart listened to each resident speak and made special mention to commissioner Annette Mitchell, who is on city council, to take note of what they had to say and relay the information to the council.

Henry Peters, one of the residents of Russian Road, spoke before the Orange Beach planning commission after they presented the site plan for the …

Peters mentioned the "explosions" he has heard from the site, stating, "they blow things up." One day, he said, he was concerned his neighbor's firework shed had caught fire because the gunfire was so loud and frequent.

"It's like living in Ukraine," Peters said. "Y'all ought to come out there and listen to it. They started Saturday morning at 6:13."

Another Russian Road resident, David Stewart, also spoke on the noise. He told the commission of his wife who had a stroke six years ago and is now bedridden, "and she can't stand it."

"I think there's six of those skeet slingers down there that if all of those things are going during a competition, it's going to be like World War III," Stewart said. "It's going to be unbearable. I would appreciate seeing a plan that would mediate a little bit of the noise or most of it."

Residents agreed that even a set timeframe where the shooting range can be used would be beneficial as they currently have no knowledge of when a practice will take place. Other precautions, like security ensuring it is not used out of hours, were also suggested.

"Think of some way to appease us, or we're going to fight," Stewart said.

The final resident to speak was William Ward, who considered himself a "gun advocate," and he agreed with the residents who spoke before him in saying the noise is too much to live near.

"I'm upset about it because I brought my family and built my own house there thinking I was going to be at peace, but I've got war across the street," Ward said, "and that's not right."

Ward also mentioned how there are many trees on that road and any time there is a bad storm or hurricane it's almost impossible to drive down the street from fallen trees and branches. Because of this, he said he thinks the safe room that is planned on site would be "safer up on top of the road where there's no dirt (road)."

Griffin Powell, Orange Beach's city planner, said the planning commission only grants approval to the site plan review for the proposed clubhouse, safe room and storage buildings. He said a majority of "the shooting range areas have been constructed" already and that the main construction will be on these buildings.

Powell also said site plans do not require city council approval. Now that the site plan has been approved by the planning commission, the next step for the Orange Beach Shooting Sports Complex, according to Powell, is for the city to "move forward with obtaining the building permits" for the buildings detailed in the site plan, which will then require planning commission and city council approval.