Friday, October 24, 2003
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Friday, October 24, 2003 |
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Sporting complex near Turin – shot down By JOHN THOMPSON Despite it being pulled from the agenda at the last minute, the Coweta County Commission denied a conditional use permit for a sporting shooting complex on Reese Road near Turin. The issue, according to Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter, has been one of the most contentious since he’s been in office. “It was brought up and dropped before my heart surgery, and now it’s back again and pulled at the last minute. I don’t want to see this again for a year,” he said. Owners John Harris and Virginia Holley Harris Milam wanted to build the facility on a 13-acre section of a 179-acre tract. They wanted the range opened from 9 a.m. until sundown and stipulated no alcohol sales would be allowed. But during an earlier public hearing on the issue, Senoia city administrator Murray McAfee said the city’s water supply could be at risk if the shooting range was approved. McAfee said the lead shot from the range could seep into the city’s watershed area. But Milam argued there was no evidence the lead could contaminate water sources. The matter was supposed to be decided by the County Commission Tuesday, but the owners asked the issue be removed from the agenda at the last minute. County attorney Mitch Powell said the issue could not be brought up again for six months, since the public hearing had been held on the matter. But Hunter wanted to get his message out loud and clear to the county and still asked for it to be denied, which the other commissioners gave him with a unanimous vote.
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