MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Signs opposite the Peak View Range, a shooting range on Lower Flowers Rd at the Hori Bay access road, adjacent to State Highway 6, Whangamoa.
The creation of a shooting range in North Nelson has left neighbors confused.
At the end of 2019, Carl and Natalia McAllansmith opened the Peak View Range, a shooting range, on their property. They also run the chic Peak View Retreat property on site in the Whangamoa area.
Neighbors have complained to the municipality about the range.
Kendall Smart said his concerns about the range’s environmental impact have been ignored, and he feared the increased traffic on the shared rural driveway used to access the range would leave residents out of pocket.
He was also upset about noise and a potential drop in land value.
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“We bought the countryside to live the dream, to live in a piece of paradise, but it’s not paradise anymore,” said Smart.
“How can this happen without the neighbours’ permission?”
Smart said the shooting range could have a financial impact on the eight properties sharing the 4WD access road, all of which were responsible for its maintenance.
Noise has also been a topic of discussion. On the day of a shooting competition in November 2021, Smart registered 257 gunshots from outside his home between 8:35 a.m. and 11 a.m.
“I’m 2 kilometers away and they say the noise shouldn’t bother me,” he said.
“It might not be overly loud, but boy, it’s annoying.”
He said he and other neighbors were also concerned about a lead bullet going into the ground at a site 160 meters from the Whangamoa River.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Access to a shooting range in the Whangamoa area that a neighbor is opposing requires retrospective permission.
The McAllansmiths don’t need permission for the scope according to the planning rules, but they don’t have permission for the access road.
In April, the McAllansmiths applied for retroactive permission for the access road for members and customers to access Peak View Range via Hori Bay Rd and Lower Flowers Rd.
Carl said Peak View Range has been operating since late 2019 and has earned a Silver Qualmark NZ Tourism Award in 2021.
The McAllansmiths said they owned three of the eight shares of the road and “contribute above and beyond to organize and carry out road maintenance”.
The range’s two closest neighbors had advised on numerous occasions that they hear no sound from the range, he said.
In addition, Carl said they had acoustically mapped the range to ensure it was in compliance with national noise regulations for both daytime and nighttime recordings.
With police banning gun alternatives in 2019, using lead projectiles was “the only option” in New Zealand, he said.
But Carl said the amount of lead used was “negligible” compared to the amount dropped by vehicles on the adjacent highway, for example, by wheel weights.
The range was currently a participant in an NMIT pivotal study on the effects of lead on hunted meat consumption, he said.
Clare Barton, Nelson City Council’s environmental management group manager, said they had been contacted a number of times by neighbors from Peak View Range and had responded to all complaints received by phone or email.
Gun ranges were now regulated under gun laws and this required them to ensure they were certified under a process carried out by the NZ Police, she said.
The Peak View Gun Range was located in a rural zone that, under Nelson’s current Regional Management Plan, allowed commercial activities of up to 300 m², provided they comply with other district-wide regulations such as noise and access standards.
In 2021, following a neighbor’s complaint, the council investigated Peak View Range and found it lacked the required access to run a commercial business. The owner of Peak View had to request permission for resources retroactively.
Barton said the council had received that application and asked the applicant for more information about the frequency of access road use to determine if notification is necessary.
While the permit issue revolved around access to the property, the council also received more information about the rounds used and any spills of contaminants onto land and whether there were any concerns about noise.
“There is a general duty under the Resource Management Act to avoid unreasonable noise and to prevent, remedy or mitigate other adverse effects,” Barton said.