Plans for an outdoor shooting range at Balliang East have been described as “too intensive”, and could threaten farming on nearby properties if it went ahead, Moorabool councillors have been told.
A planning application by Metro Practice Shooting Range Incorporated, at 392 Moretons Road next to an existing shooting range, sought to operate from 9am until 10pm Mondays to Saturdays, and from noon until 10pm on Sundays. The existing shooting range is limited to two days a week, and was approved on the basis it would cease operating if the applicant no longer continued the business at that site.
While the zoning doesn’t specifically prohibit an outdoor shooting range, council officers said such a facility was not an appropriate use for the site proposed.
The area is in a farming zone, with nearby properties used for grazing and livestock production.
Moorabool councillors voted against the application, backing officers’ recommendation that the shooting range would be incompatible with neighbouring land uses, and did not represent “orderly planning of the area”.
“This intensity … could limit future farming opportunities on adjacent properties, if they intend to expand or seek alternative productive farming uses,” the officers’ report stated. “A negative for the proposal is there is already an outdoor shooting range (next door).
“This will have the effect [of] exacerbating amenity impacts, if both sites are operating at the same time.”
Operating a shooting range seven days a week could attract large numbers of shooters, and many non-shooters gathering for social activities, officers said.
Metro Practice Shooting Range Incorporated – a not-for-profit club with 200 members – wanted to build three fixed traps with a 120-metre reclamation mound, two shooting bunkers with dirt side walls and a two metre-high bulka bag walls. Clay targets were to be made of biodegradable products, while projectiles would be brass, lead and steel.
The application also included a 10-space car park, one disabled person’s space, and a portable toilet.
Council received six objections, citing concerns about noise. A consultation meeting was held between one objector and the permit applicant, but a resolution wasn’t achieved.
