By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court has taken its next step toward the planned construction of a public target range facility just north of the Del Rio city limits.
The court, during its regular meeting on Jan.15, held a public hearing on the target range grant draft environmental assessment.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. opened the public hearing, noting the draft environmental assessment has been made available for a 30-day public review, from Dec. 18, 2024, through Jan. 21.
“Is there anyone who wants to speak for or against it?” Owens asked after opening the hearing.
Hearing no comments, Owens asked Carl Esser, the county’s grants administrator, “It’s all good, right, Carl? Do you want to give us a little update?”
Esser walked to the podium and told the court, “It’s just a requirement that Texas Parks and Wildlife give the community the opportunity to make comments on the environmental assessment. This has been a long journey, and we’re very close to the end, and so, this is kind of the last step to complete it, if anybody in the community wants to make a comment on the project or the environmental assessment.”
Esser said the environmental assessment document has been reviewed by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
“They did require the county to conduct a 30-day comment period, and it’s been posted on the county clerk’s public announcement board,” Esser said, noting that since the final day of the comment period fell on a Saturday, the last day to comment would be Jan. 21.
“At the end of the comment period, if there are no comments, we will incorporate that information into the environmental assessment, say there were no comments, and that will be incorporated into the final report to Texas Parks & Wildlife, and that should be
the final deal of the environmental assessment. So, we’re real close,” Esser added.
Owens then asked Esser if this was the same process the county would follow for the environmental assessment of a planned county sports complex near the Del Rio Middle School off U.S. Highway 90.
Esser replied, “That’s continuing and ongoing. We’ve gotten clearance from a lot of the other agencies. The Texas Historical Commission did request that we do an archeological assessment out there on the 15 acres north of the football field, so that is continuing and ongoing. . . We’re still on target to clear that in the month of March.”
Owens asked, “Does anyone else have any comments on the target range?”
Hearing none, Owens closed the public hearing.
As Esser told the court, a copy of the environmental assessment is available for review on the county’s website.
The 126-page document starts by describing the target range project, noting the county “is proposing to develop, construct, operate and maintain a public target range facility on approximately 3.0 acres of a total of 15 acres of the Val Verde County Precinct 3 maintenance yard. . . northwest of the intersection of U.S. (Highway) 90 and U.S.
(Highway) 277.”
The document also notes that financial assistance for the project will be provided through a grant under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Conservation Investment and administered through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
The document also expresses the reasons the county sought the grant.
“There is a lack of public shooting ranges in the county with only three private facilities which require membership to use the facility, which are not able to accommodate shooting events. . . The citizens of Val Verde County have no public shooting facility to learn how to shoot a firearm safely, due to most citizens unable to afford the fees private facilities charge to allow them to use the private shooting ranges,” the document reads.
The document describes the plan for the target range facility as “an 11,427-square-foot indoor shooting range facility with a minimum of four firing lanes.”
“The firing lanes would have distances at 33-foot line, 50-foot line and 75-foot line. The facility would be utilized for pistols and rifles,” the document reads.
After the meeting, Owens said the county had received a grant for the target range facility and said there is still $1.1 – $1.2 million available from that grant. He also said the county has borrowed $1.5 million for the facility.
Of the facility itself, he said, “Because of the way the grant is written, the public will have access to the facility, and the (Val Verde County) 4-H shooting sports team will be one of the groups using it on a regular basis.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
