FROM STAFF REPORTS

The local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge has applied for a special-use permit to operate a shooting range at its property off Wing Drive near Statesville.

The Iredell County Board of Adjustment will consider the request during its January 18 meeting.

The FOP Lodge has been operating the shooting range without a special-use permit for more than seven months in violation of the county’s land-use ordinance. Some neighbors have complained about the constant sound of gunfire, equating the noise to fireworks.

FOP President Rodney James said the organization has heard nearby residents’ complaints and has tried to be a good neighbor. The range was closed December 23-25 in observance of the Christmas holiday, and shooting after 6 p.m. has been scaled back, James said.

The FOP, which has more than 1,400 members, was informed in January of 2022 that it would need to apply for a special-use permit for the shooting range when it sought approval to build its new lodge. The organization constructed the shooting range without doing so.

The Iredell County Planning & Zoning Department has issued the FOP two citations for operating the range without a permit. The citations carry a fine of $100 per day for each day the range operates without a permit.

The Lodge is prepared to pay the fines, which began accruing on November 14 and will hit $4,700 by the end of December.

“We’re going to do what we need to do as far as getting right with the county,” James said.

The FOP is also taking steps to reduce the noise associated with the range. The application for the special-use permit also details plans to shift the range’s location on the Lodge’s property.

James stressed, however, that officers must train and be qualified to shoot at night, adding that the vast majority of crime occurs at nighttime.

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