Posted on 06/27/2002 6:39:58 AM PDT by technochick99
FORT LEE - The Borough Council has shut down the Police Department's shooting range after learning it will cost $100,000 to clean up lead-contaminated soil at the Palisade Terrace training facility.
Noise pollution generated from the weekly firing of guns over the past several decades made matters worse, said Mayor Jack Alter, who lives in The Plaza - a 171-unit co-op building that is adjacent to the range.
"When the range was built, it was there by itself," Alter said of the outdoor range, which opened about 50 years ago. "Now it's surrounded by three large buildings, and I happen to live in one of them. The racket is tremendous."
Over the years, as high-rise apartments sprouted up throughout the borough, elected officials restricted police officers' use of the range to a few hours each week. The restrictions also limited the use of the facility to Fort Lee police officers, Alter said.
Last month when the Borough Council learned the state required the town to clean up the lead in the soil at an estimated $100,000, Alter said it made economic sense to permanently shut down the range on June 1.
"The noise has always been an issue, but the trigger was economics," the mayor said. "It's the last time we're going to pay the bill."
The council must still clean up the soil at the site, but with guns no longer being fired - and the lead from ammunition no longer seeping into the ground - taxpayers won't face having to shell out more money down the line, Alter added.
Some opponents of the council's decision say the absence of a local shooting range will cost Fort Lee in overtime pay because the 107-member police force will have to drive to Mahwah to use the shooting range at the Bergen County Police Academy.
Officer Mark Finocchiaro, president of the Fort Lee Policemen's Benevolent Association, said having the range within the borough made the Police Department more efficient.
"If the mayor didn't live there, would this have happened?" said Finocchiaro, whose father helped build the range. "I don't think so."
State law requires police officers at least twice a year to meet certain weapons handling standards in order to keep their gun licenses.
"I kind of understand the people who live around there," said Police Chief Thomas Tessaro. "It can be a little nerve-racking. But the fact of life is we must qualify [with the state]."
In Fort Lee, officers on duty were able to drive over to the local range off Palisade Avenue, fulfill their weapons requirements in about half an hour, and go back to their patrols, Tessaro said.
Driving to Mahwah will take officers off their patrols for at least a couple of hours, Tessaro said, explaining that he accepts the council's decision but hopes that in a few years his borough will be able to build an indoor shooting range to accommodate the growing department. The Police Department will continue to have exclusive access to the range on Palisade Terrace and use it for other training exercises.
"Maybe down the line in the future some other solutions can be made, and we can come back to a more local situation," Tessaro said. "It's a convenience factor."
Marvin Rothenberg, who lives in The Plaza and is the secretary and treasurer of the Fort Lee Cooperative and Condominium Association, said he and fellow tenants thought the range had been shut down because of the noise, and that he hadn't been told about the lead contamination in the soil.
Rothenberg said he has heard some of his neighbors complain about the noise from the range, but the noise hasn't bothered him since he moved into The Plaza seven years ago.
"We have a number of people here who are bothered by it," Rothenberg said about the range. "It's a matter of noise tolerance. Personally, I thought we had no right to complain, because it was there when we moved in."
To date, no study has found a shooting range to cause lead in water to exceed drinking water standards. In nearly all circumstances, lead in the soil is inert. It does not become dissolved and it does not find its way into the water table. There are certain exceptions to this. The most notable one is when lead shot falls on highly acidic soils. In this case, the lead can dissolve somewhat and migrate into the soil. You might test the pH of the soil in your shot fall zone. If it's below seven (neutral), you may want to apply an appropriate amount of limestone to raise the pH to a neutral level. Your local agricultural extension service could tell you how much lime you might need to apply, based on your pH level.
Lead in the soil! Where in the h*ll did the lead come from in the first place! All these people were doing is returning it to it's environment!
Semper Fi
As several have already pointed out, lead contamination from ranges is a bogus issue. In this case it appears sound affecting the good Mayor was a big factor.
What hasn't been pointed out yet is this is NEW JERSEY - anti-gun to the core! They don't even want their police officers firing guns. Good grief!
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