Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I was out shopping on the RT1 side of Hoodbridge yesterday. Stopped by the site of the new "Shooters Range" to see if any progress had been made on this place. I'd really like to have a range in Woodbridge again. The old Shooters Paradise was cool being so close... now I have to drive to Stafford or Lorton.

At any rate. Looks to me like nothing has been done. The PWC zoning "Hearing" sign from last October (2008) was still posted in the window. Peeking in the windows reveled some white paint and bare concrete floors just like the last time I looked in on it back in January.

I'm not sure whats going on with the place.
Will

As I heard its DOA. Too bad too.

Tony

Anyone have any idea why its not being built? Maybe we could get together and write a letter indicating interest. I would like an alternative to Gilberts occasionally and Woodbridge is relatively close for me.

zephyp wrote:Anyone have any idea why its not being built? Maybe we could get together and write a letter indicating interest. I would like an alternative to Gilberts occasionally and Woodbridge is relatively close for me.

I agree with that, too bad we would'nt have enough signatures from more local indicating interest in the range being opened. At any rate I'm willing to sign a letter of interest.

If enough folks step forward I'll draft a letter. Anyone have an idea who we might send it to?

zephyp wrote:If enough folks step forward I'll draft a letter. Anyone have an idea who we might send it to?

I'll sign it as well but I have no idea who to mail it to.

The PWC zoning sign only says "The Shooters Range Inc" I think. No address or contact phone info on it except for the PWC zoning commission.
Will

Contact VCDL. I think they had contact info for the guy building the range.
Tony

Aroooo wrote:Contact VCDL. I think they had contact info for the guy building the range.
Tony

Good idea. We should have some idea of how many people would be interested if we send them a letter.

Do you need a head count?

count me in as head #1

goodoleboy wrote:count me in as head #1

Good deal. I'll watch this thread for a couple days so we have an idea of interest.

According to the VCDL Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/VCDL_ORG) Jack Andresen, the owner of Shooter's Range passed away a few weeks ago.

NewColonial wrote:According to the VCDL Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/VCDL_ORG) Jack Andresen, the owner of Shooter's Range passed away a few weeks ago.

In that light, it may not be appropriate to send a letter anytime soon. Perhaps we should wait to see what the intend to do. I'm sure they are making many other decisions right now and this is most likely at the bottom of the list.

Agreed.

I am also interested in knowing what happened. Maybe we'll have something in a week or two?

Jericho01 wrote:I am also interested in knowing what happened. Maybe we'll have something in a week or two?

If the owner died recently IMO we should wait a little before asking questions. We'll keep watch and send a letter when the dust from his passing settles. Perhaps in the meantime we can search for news about disposition of the range. It might get put up in an estate sale.

What would you ask of who? Who would you write to?

There is still a special use permit in place for that strip mall. All you would have to do is lease the space and have it running within just over 1 year. Unused special use permits go away after 2 years of non-use or 1 year of inturrupted use.

Know that the sound proofing for the bays in that particular part of the strip mall required to get it to county specs would run about $265K for materials and the range itself would run about $65k per lane to outfit.

Also the special use permit requires the employees to check all guns to make sure they can be safely operated, and are legal. In essence, every employee has to be a gunsmith and a BATFE agent.

IMHO....If you want a range in Hoodbridge you really need to start from scratch as the existing special use permit is not really any good....

Pourshot wrote:What would you ask of who? Who would you write to?

There is still a special use permit in place for that strip mall. All you would have to do is lease the space and have it running within just over 1 year. Unused special use permits go away after 2 years of non-use or 1 year of inturrupted use.

Know that the sound proofing for the bays in that particular part of the strip mall required to get it to county specs would run about $265K for materials and the range itself would run about $65k per lane to outfit.

Also the special use permit requires the employees to check all guns to make sure they can be safely operated, and are legal. In essence, every employee has to be a gunsmith and a BATFE agent.

IMHO....If you want a range in Hoodbridge you really need to start from scratch as the existing special use permit is not really any good....

What are the chances that a new special use permit would be any lighter than the current one? Doesn't it make sense that in order for the board to agree to a range that these terms needed to be met and if someone else came forward and asked for zoning they would ask for the same thing again?

Just wondering.

To everyone interested in the new Shooter's Range at the Marumsco Shopping Center in Woodbridge, I work with the owner of the Center and here is the scoop. Jack Andresen, who had been spearheading the operation for Shooter's Range, passed away in early August. It came as a surprise to all involved. Construction was supposed to have been underway by now with an original target of opening around Thanksgiving. The Center owner is looking for a replacement tenant who may be interested in building and operating the range that was approved for Shooter's Range. The approved new Range was designed to be state of the art (and, yes, for whomever asked in an earlier post, air conditioned). The Special Use Permit approval runs for the benefit of the Center and the Center owner, a gun enthusiast himself (as am I, the proud father of a newborn Glock), would very much like to see the Range built. If anyone is interested in expressing support for a new Range by all means write the Center owner so that we can show prospective interested parties that there is definitely a positive interest in a Range here. You can write to Kevin Sills, Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Investments, 9161 Liberia Avenue, Suite 201, Manassas, Virginia 20110. Hope to see you at The Shooter's Range.

Thank you so much for letting us know this information garykbahena. We have all been wondering for a while now as I'm sure you have seen here. I know I speck for myself but I'm sure others here would echo this, yes, yes, we would very much like to see a range opened in Prince William and I would very strongly support it.

Correspondence will be on its way soon to the center owner expressing just that.