Proposed Clubhouse at Mountains Shooting Range Triggers Controversy

About 20 residents who live near Castle Rock State Park near the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains protested a proposal to build a 3,200-square-foot clubhouse on Skyline Boulevard for the Los Altos Rod and Gun Club at the County Board Of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

The outdoor shooting range has been in operation since 1955. If built, the clubhouse would be used for club events and gatherings of other groups who use the range.

Local resident and member of the Community Association for Life in the Mountains (CALM) Vanessa Weiss said that bullets from the club's outdoor shooting range leak lead into the ground water and pollute drinking wells.

“We have taken samples of the water contamination,” Weiss said. “If they can afford a 3,200-square-foot clubhouse, they can afford to clean up the mess they are making.”

Club President Steve Caserza said they plan to clean up the used bullets but did not say whether they have ever done so in the past.

“We will be cleaning up the lead this year,” Caserza said. “We have been looking at it for several years.”

Stanford Professor Hari Manoharan lives in the mountain neighborhood and said the club has never cleaned up the lead since its opening in 1955.

“We can only guess about the amount of pollution based on the average numbers from the noise [we hear],” he said. “The amount of lead is now in the metric tons.”

Manoharan also said noise is more intense than other area shooting ranges because heavy automatic weapons are allowed in addition to handguns. He said it is so intense that residents have to play loud music in their homes, some of which are within 500 meters of the range.

Weiss said use of the range has increased significantly in recent years, and that building the clubhouse will invite even more shooters.

The facility was grandfathered in as a “non-conforming use,” exempt from most county zoning ordinances because it was in place before most homes were built, and before Castle Rock was declared a state park.

The permit request from the club says the clubhouse will not increase use of the club, but offers no numbers of current use to confirm this. The range is currently open to members only, but the club hopes to open it to the public in the future on certain days. Supervisor Ellen Pirie raised concerns about this.

“The amount of gunfire coming from this club has increased in recent years,” Pirie said. “It seems they are at their maximum membership limit now, but if it is opened up to the public, where does that leave the club?”

Caserza said they can “probably” provide statistics on how many people are at the range, but had no details Tuesday.

The board scheduled another public hearing on the issue for Feb. 14 and asked both sides to provide more information on noise and water pollution. Supervisors also want to see solid plans for how the club will address neighbors’ concerns.