Middletown
to regulate pistol range
MIDDLETOWN — In response to complaints from a nearby resident, the Township Committee agreed at its Monday night workshop to draft an ordinance regulating activity at the Middletown Township Police Firing Range.
The range is located on the west side of Normandy Road, the private Navy road, near West Front Street.
The controversy erupted a couple of months ago when Joyce Kunemund, a resident of nearby Shady Oaks adult community, chastised the Middletown Township Police Department for what she called flagrant misuse of the facility.
She said that in the past year the facility had become nothing more than a glorified gun club and complained that pistol range use is unsupervised and non-stop, including during weekends, early morning and late evening hours.
Township officials looked into the matter and consulted with Police Chief John Pollinger. Conceding that the facility is in need of refurbishing and that there had been increased activity due to the closing of a Monmouth County indoor range, Pollinger worked with township officials to begin to remedy sound and safety concerns.
Pollinger said he had already been looking into the matter prior to Kunemund’s complaints.
With some improvements already in the works, the committee has decided that it would be in the township’s best interest to draft an ordinance regulating the facility. The ordinance, which Township Administrator Robert Czech said should be ready in January after being discussed with Pollinger, would define operational parameters that would be available to the public and on record in the township for enforcement. The police have their own typed set of rules for use of the range, but "there’s never been an official set of rules set by ordinance. There really should have been an ordinance," Czech said.
The ordinance will establish fees for use of the pistol range by agencies and towns outside of Middletown and regulate the types of weapons to be fired and other aspects of the facility.
Until Kunemund made her complaints, officials said that they had never received any in the more than 30 years of the range’s existence. Neighbors of Kunemund’s stood staunchly behind Pollinger in his claims that the facility is, and has been, completely safe and posed no threat.
"We need to restrict activity more right now, especially considering that leaves have fallen and sound will echo more. I think we also need to restrict weekend activity at the range — limit it to Monday through Friday," Committeeman Patrick Parkinson said.
Committeeman Raymond O’Grady questioned the type of weapons being used at the range and suggested a restriction on type, as well, to be written into the ordinance. The committee discussed possible benefits of fees assessed for range use by outside affiliations, such as the renovation project supporting itself monetarily.
"Whatever we decide to do," said Mayor Rosemarie Peters, "doing it by ordinance is what seems the wisest route to take."