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Environmental study concludes skeet course not creating noise pollution

An environmental noise study says Blackmore Shooting Sports clay course is not creating adverse noise effects at its location...
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County of Wetaskiwin No.10

An environmental noise study says Blackmore Shooting Sports clay course is not creating adverse noise effects at its location off Highway 20, nine kilometers south of Winfield.

Blackmore Shooting Sports clay course has stirred some dissatisfied feelings among landowners in the area, and on Nov. 10 of last year landowners spoke to Wetaskiwin county council regarding concerns of noise, hours of operation and alcohol usage on the course.

Since late last year, County of Wetaskiwin staff have investigated the concerns of landowners, resulting in some changes being made to Blackmore Shooting Sports’ operations.

However, the clay course will continue to operate within the conditions of its development permit, and county council accepted the environmental noise study as information during its April 11 planning and economic development meeting.

“Actions that were taken with respect to the aforementioned concerns were; the section on the website where it indicated that alcohol could be served under certain circumstances was removed,” said development officer Jarvis Grant.

He added safety guidelines from Blackmore Shooting Sports were recently submitted to the county, and within the guidelines it states those found with alcohol or who are intoxicated will be removed from the course.

Before entertaining the idea of changing hours of operations, Blackmore Shooting Sports and the County of Wetaskiwin sought the expertise of a sound engineer to see if the clay course was creating noise pollution above and beyond noises contributed by the highway.

“The developer hired Acoustical Consultants Inc. to undertake an environmental noise study for the skeet shooting course,” said Grant.

Within the environmental report it states, “relative to contributions from the highway, it would appear as there was no direct correlation with the measured noise levels at number two and number three, and that (of) the activities at the range during the three measurement periods.”

Measurements were taken at three locations; one on-site of the shooting range and two off the range’s property.