Exclusive: I-66 safety concerns raised over proposed Boy Scouts gun range

HAYMARKET — Boy Scout officials are seeking Prince William County approval to add shooting sports activities at Camp William B. Snyder near Haymarket, including two outdoor rifle and shotgun ranges, but the plan has raised safety and noise concerns for nearby traffic on Interstate 66.

Both state and county transportation officials who reviewed the plan questioned whether traffic on nearby I-66 could be impacted, possibly winding up in the line of fire. The proposal requires approval from the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

But scout officials believe they will be able to alleviate those concerns.

“If there was any way we felt this would be a danger to our scouts or to the surrounding community, we would not be doing this,” said Aaron Chusid, chief communications officer for the Boy Scouts Of America National Capital Area Council.

As part of the routine internal review process, county transportation officials noted the proposed plan would result in gunfire being aimed south toward the Antioch access road and I-66.

“This creates the possibility of drivers on these facilities being in the line of fire,” county officials said. “This would be exacerbated in the future if I-66 is widened in this area to accommodate HOV lanes.”

The question focuses on the proposed trap shooting range, in which 12-gauge or smaller shotguns are used to fire at airborne targets. The firearms are not long-range, Chusid said, and there will be a buffer zone of more than 1,000 feet between the shooting stand and the I-66 easement.

“We’re not using anything high-powered out there,” Chusid said. “Shooting sports is something a lot of young men and women are interested in learning more about, and we want to make sure they have a safe environment to do that.”

Camp Snyder sits within the county’s rural crescent at 6100 Antioch Road, slightly northwest of Haymarket and across the road from the Dominion Valley neighborhood. A popular camping site, it includes canoeing, hiking, archery and other outdoor activities. Adding the two shooting ranges within the 350-acre facility would require a special use permit from the county.

The proposed project was submitted to county planning officials in March by Michael Snowden, the camp’s director. It’s currently in the staff review phase.

Once the staff comments have been sufficiently addressed — including the scout response to the concerns raised by transportation officials about the impact on I-66 — the application will be scheduled for public hearing before the Planning Commission and the Board of County Supervisors, said Keasha Chappell Hall of the county’s Planning Office.

Supervised BB gun shooting already takes place at Camp Snyder. The proposed plan would add two permanent shooting ranges:

• A rifle range for shooting air rifles or pistols, small bore .22 caliber rim-fire rifles or pistols, and muzzleloading rifles. It would be located toward the center of the camp, between the wilderness camping area and the wetlands nature area.

• A shotgun range for shooting trap and sporting clays using 12-gauge shotguns or smaller. It would be located on the southern edge of the camp, adjacent to the wetlands nature area and the Antioch access road, which runs parallel to I-66.

The ranges at Camp Snyder would be constructed similarly to those at the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club, a larger shooting sports facility in Prince William County. The private facility operates eight trap and skeet fields, six rifle ranges, three pistol ranges, an archery range and an indoor air rifle range.

In addition, the Bull Run Shooting Center in Centreville, which is part of the regional Northern Virginia Parks system, also sits adjacent to I-66 in Bull Run Park.

According to the application for the special use permit, there are more than 272 Boy Scout camps across the country that operate similar shooting ranges under “the highest safety standard” — higher than what’s required by National Rifle Association-sanctioned ranges or private ranges.

In the national capital area, the Boy Scouts already operate 33 BB gun ranges, 28 airgun ranges, three rifle ranges, three shotgun ranges and a black powder range. There also are about 30 archery ranges. All of those are located at Goshen Scout Reservation in southern Virginia, Chusid said.

If approved, it wouldn’t be the first time shooting sports took place at Camp Snyder. In 2014 and 2015, Prince William County issued a temporary permit that allowed the scouts to hold a sporting clay and trap shooting tournament, which “took place as planned without complaint or incident.”

Those events also took place at the same location as the proposed trap shooting facility, Chusid said.

The proposed permanent shooting ranges would not be open to the public. They would be available to qualified Boy Scout groups as well as select private organizations, such as 4H clubs, conservation clubs, hunter safety groups, National Rifle Association training courses and other “approved or sanctioned organizations.”

The shooting program would focus on training for firearm safety, familiarization and marksmanship along with competition shooting and team-building exercises.

“If you see a firearm at home or at a friend’s house,” Chusid said, “do you know what to do? Are you going to be safe around that firearm?”

When in use, the shooting ranges would operate seven days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the exception of the sporting clay range, which would end at 5 p.m.

Key considerations for the proposed shooting range include:

• Proximity to homes — The proposed rifle range site is near the center of Camp Snyder, while the shotgun range is on the southern edge along the Antioch access road. Camp Snyder sits on Antioch Road, directly across from the western end of Dominion Valley. The application says the shooting ranges would be about a half-mile from residences situated off Antioch Road, which forms the camp’s eastern boundary, and Thoroughfare Road, which is the western boundary.

• Proximity to I-66 — County transportation officials raised concerns about the location and direction for the proposed shotgun shooting range. To alleviate concerns about whether drivers on Antioch access road or I-66 could end up in the line of fire, they recommended relocating the shotgun range to the northeast portion of the wetlands and nature area. That would result in the direction of fire being aimed southwest into the managed wetlands area, which is also used by scouts for canoeing and fishing.

In addition, Virginia Department of Transportation officials reviewed the proposal and also noted the potential issues for I-66 drivers, saying they could not sign off on the plan without “detailed information on the proposed trap range in regards to safety and noise impacts on the traveling public of I-66.”

• Noise Levels — Noise testing was conducted in May and August 2015 along Antioch and Thoroughfare roads. Each time, the noise generated by .22-caliber rifles and 12-gauge shotguns was within county noise limits, according to information included with the application.

The ambient traffic noise on Antioch Road is louder than the firearm noise, scout officials said. In addition, they added that “noise from the shotgun range is buried in the background noise” from nearby I-66. Surrounding trees, structures and a proposed berm system around the ranges also would help minimize the noise, they said.

• Wetlands protection — The location of each proposed shooting range is adjacent to the managed wetlands area within Camp Snyder, which includes a lake with a small dock. Scouting officials plan to trap lead in the backstop of the rifle shooting range to minimize accumulation.

• Facilities — The proposal includes facilities typical of shooting ranges, such as an earthen backstop and side berms, overhead safety baffles, a shelter for up to 20 shooters at a time, and secured storage buildings for guns and ammunition to protect against fire and theft.