CAPE COD WAVE PHOTO
A Barnstable police officer at the town’s shooting range before it closed in 2012.
WEST BARNSTABLE – The future of the West Barnstable Shooting Range will be discussed tomorrow by the town council.
The town received approval last week from the Conservation Commission to remove the shooting range property from conservation lands in exchange for 17 acres on Breed’s Hill Road and 10 acres off Nye Road.
The range closed in 2012 when the town’s insurance agency discovered the property’s use was not included in the town’s policy. The closure also led to the discovery of lead contamination.
Barnstable Town Manager Mark Ells recommends reopening the range in its current location.
“The advantage of keeping it a range and reopening it is that we can maintain the management of lead on the site in place,” Ells said. “We are going to clean up some of the lead and remove it from the site and going forward we would clean it up on a regular basis so that there would be no net addition of lead at the site.”
Ells said the range would be run differently than it was prior to the closure with improved safety standards with pass holders limited to residents.
The swap must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the town council before it heads to the state legislature.
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
