Report to examine site of city’s former gun range

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Contaminated land that once heard the pops of

gunfire may soon hear sounds of a different sort.

The city’s Environmental Assessment Committee has approved plans to

conduct an environmental impact report on the site of a former gun range

as part of a remediation effort that could eventually turn the space into

parkland.

“An initial study on the site is available to the public now for

comments until April 13, and then we’ll bring those back to the

committee,” said Ricky Ramos, an associate planner with the city.

City officials said a separate environmental impact report, broader in

scope and relating to Central Park, already exists for the 4.9-acre site,

but the committee’s plan is to focus only on the range and what is needed

to clean it up.

Once site remediation efforts are complete, there are a whole host of

potential park uses that could be built, they added.

“When the original master plan for Central Park was designed, the gun

range was left out because it was in use,” said Jim Engle, deputy

director of community services. “So it could support basketball courts,

additional soccer fields, and even serve as a relocation site for Dog

Park . . . basically anything that isn’t a gun range.”

Tucked away in an undeveloped section of Central Park south of Talbert

Avenue near Gothard Street, the gun range first opened in 1967, serving

as a firing ground for the public and law enforcement agencies.

Built as an open-air range, the outdoor facility offered separate

pistol, rifle and public training, but was shut down in 1997. The firing center was originally built on a former landfill, and sink holes from

decomposing waste caused ground instability. A year before, a stray

bullet broke through a sliding glass door of a home just north of Central

Park.

Lead contamination is an obvious issue that is included in the initial

study, which looked at the site’s land use and geology, Ramos said. Other

potential impacts to air and water quality are also included, he added.

The city has been working to build a new state-of-the-art gun range to

train police and other law enforcement agencies, and in January, sought

federal money to help fund a 38,600-square-foot indoor shooting area with

noise control and filters to clear the air of lead dust. It also includes

a 25,425-square-foot outdoor area for physical training and exercises

without the firing of any weapons and carries an estimated cost of

between $3 million to $4 million.