By Alex Paul, Albany Democrat-Herald | Posted: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 3:00 pm 

SHEDD — The Albany Rifle & Pistol Club has begun making changes based on the January approval of a conditional use permit by the Linn County Planning Commission.

Rangemaster Mike McCarter said the club has planted 100 evergreens downrange and had eight 9-foot-tall Austrian pines planted on a berm east of neighbor Bill Leemaster’s home, which is a couple hundred yards south of the club.

McCarter has been researching three types of sound-deadening materials to be used in current and planned shooting buildings.

“We were very pleased with the planning commission’s decision,” McCarter said. “There were some leftover hard feelings from 1994 when the club first went before them. Like a lot of gun clubs, we had a good-old-boys’ attitude that we were right. That’s not the way to work with people.”

McCarter said he sat down with two neighbors before the December planning commission meeting to hammer out guidelines that eventually became part of the conditions of the new permit.

Key conditions allow an expansion of facilities to include the east side of the club’s property, and the lifting of restrictions concerning the type of firearms used on the property.

“We have 180 days from Jan. 15 to construct five new shooting bays on the east side,” McCarter said. “We haven’t started yet, but we will seek advice from experts around the country in terms of noise control. We may even hire a certified acoustics engineer. The new buildings will definitely include state-of-the-art sound deadening materials.”

McCarter said the club will experiment on the main range after setting up sound-monitoring equipment on eight to 10 sites near the club. Changes to be made during the test include carpeting the back wall of the noise control structure; adding sound-deadening materials; removing 3 feet of gravel in front of the shooting area and replacing it with shredded sound-absorbing rubber material on the ground; building 4-foot partitions that extend outward from each shooting area; and lowering the front roofline of the building to absorb sound.

“We plan to buy our own testing equipment so we can do the tests as many times and any time we want under any atmospheric condition,” McCarter said. “The information will become part of a noise control plan that was included in the conditional use permit.”

McCarter is excited about a new 4-acre archery range that will feature 14 types of animal-shaped targets. He said the range will add greatly to the club, already experiencing rapid growth.

“We have 1,600 members already and that’s only going to go up,” McCarter said. “We need to be proactive and do things right. Private property owners don’t want people shooting on their lands anymore because of the amount of trash being left. We lost a couple generations of shooters, but now, young people want to get into shooting. We need to provide them with a safe, well-run place to come.”

To learn more about the Albany Rifle & Pistol Club, call (541) 619-0038 or visit www.arpc.info.