Fort Lupton holsters support, potential funding for outdoor firing range

   FORT LUPTON — Police may soon be heard shooting up the prairie just outside of town and not at a pack of wild outlaws.
    At least not yet.
    Proposing to consolidate their firearms training and practice from both the current Adams County range in Commerce City and a private facility in Erie, the FLPD put together a package to develop a firing range west of the city, on city property, with the help of Colorado Department of Wildlife funding.
    The idea was shared with Fort Lupton Police Chief Ken Poncelow and Mayor Tommy Holton, and the initial spark came from a grant application sent by the CDW.
    The targeted land is an about 10-acre parcel adjacent to the city’s water treatment plant, northwest of U.S. Highway 85 and state Highway 52, intended as a part-match for about $200,000 in grant money applied for from the CDW. Also in the mix is Aims Community College, offering up excavation and earthen berm construction as a $50,000 donation to the project.
    “Aims has said they would do it, but they may have to hold off a bit (due to class scheduling) but I also have a call into the Army Corps of Engineers, who may do it as well,” Poncelow said. “One or the other.”
    The plans include a provision for public use of the range, for public shooting events, hunter safety courses, concealed weapons courses and weapon sighting.
Individuals using the range would sign a waiver absolving the city of responsibility and would need a club membership for both safety and insurance reasons.
    “It would be closed to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” Poncelow said. “The local law enforcement agencies would do their training up there. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday it would be open to the public.”
    By “public,” Poncelow indicated a series of shooting clubs, responsible for range control and insurance costs, insulating the city from potential legal liability. Cost would be minimal, and with plans for both rifle and pistol facilities, likely the best value for area shooters for miles around. Also in the works are plans for an archery range, and possibly a skeet and trap range in the future.
    “It would be a full shooting sports complex, if all the details sort out,” Poncelow said.
    “We should know about the grant money, we are hoping, by the end of March,” Poncelow said, allowing that timelines in the grant process are flexible.
    Best-case scenario, and what Poncelow is shooting for, is to have the range up and running by fall 2012.
    Fort Lupton City Councilor Shannon Rhoda, a proponent of the plan, sees the range paying dividends beyond gun smoke.
    “This is what I am hoping. The monies that we get from them putting that on utility land, we will get some of that back into the utility fund so we can drop the water and sewer rates later,” Rhoda said. “That’s my wish, but it is just ‘in the process of.’ He (Poncelow) is applying for the grant. If he gets the grant, it moves forward. If he doesn’t, its dead in the water.”
    Rhoda believes that Poncelow’s plan shows merit, and will cover the expenditures allotted for the range.
    “If I didn’t believe we would get enough funds off that to offset, then I wouldn’t have gone for it,” Rhoda said. “You know me, and how I feel about keeping funds separate.”

Contact Staff Writer Gene Sears at gsears@metrowestnewspapers.com