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Residents urge Randolph County to enforce noise ordinance, investigate lead risks at local gun range
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Summary
Multiple residents told the Randolph County Board of Commissioners that a nearby gun range is producing persistent, high-decibel noise and may be contaminating surface water with lead; speakers asked the board to enforce the county noise ordinance, require decibel limits, and consider environmental testing.
Several Randolph County residents used the meeting’s public-comment period to press commissioners to act on noise and pollution concerns they attribute to a nearby shooting range.
Amy Wang, a resident, told the Board of Commissioners that recordings show persistent gunfire “for over 2 hours” during rainy afternoons at a distance she said is about a third of a mile from the range. “This has been going on for over 2 hours now,” she said. “We cannot take this any longer.”
The speakers said the complaints are not about guns or Second Amendment rights but about sustained noise and potential environmental contamination. Isaac Hoffman, who identified himself as a neighbor, said the issue “is about 600 people plus coming to our neighborhood and shooting me hours each week and disturbing our ability to enjoy our properties.” He told commissioners he reviewed the Randolph County noise ordinance and urged the county to enforce it.
Fritz Wang urged the planning board and the commissioners to treat the range as a nonconforming use of RA (residential-agricultural) property and to consider restrictions. He recommended a sound-limit condition that would require the range to keep noise at or below 65 decibels at the property line so operations could continue while reducing impacts on nearby homes.
Ed Leitz raised environmental concerns about lead from bullets reaching surface water. Leitz said he called the Ashborough water plant laboratory to suggest they add sampling near the range and that he personally submitted two creek water samples to an independent lab for lead analysis. “Lead is going to find its way to water,” Leitz said. “Once it happens, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle.”
Commissioners did not announce an immediate enforcement action during the meeting; Chairman Frye told the speakers the county is in discussions and that “they all involve legalities,” and that the issue is “a work in process.” The board did not direct a specific new requirement at the meeting.
Speakers referenced two local authorities in arguing their case: the Randolph County noise ordinance (noted in public comment as effective Sept. 1, 1985) and, by name, the North Carolina Shooting Range Protection Act of 1997, though residents said the range predates that law and should not be exempt solely on that basis.
Commissioners, sheriff’s staff and county legal advisers previously have discussed enforcement roles; speakers said they had been told by sheriff’s staff that the county noise ordinance is enforced in limited circumstances and that the sheriff’s office had referred noise enforcement back to the commissioners. The board’s chair said the matter includes legal questions the county is reviewing.
The public-comment portion of the meeting lasted the scheduled period; commissioners moved on to the evening’s consent and business agenda after replies from staff. The residents asked the board to schedule public hearings, require decibel monitoring, or otherwise limit range operations to reduce neighborhood impacts and protect nearby waterways.
