
Lethbridge Fish and Game Association shooting for Capital Improvment Plan dollars
LETHBRIDGE – The Lethbridge Fish and Game Association is hoping to make its shooting range as safe as possible.
To upgrade it to a three-season facility, it’s asking for City Council to approve $1.8 million in the 2018-2027 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) over the next two years.
The group is hoping to improve its ground and aerial baffles (sound moderators), improve backstops and bullet traps, enhance shooting stations, target bases, and flags and wind gauges, according to spokesperson Tom Hopkins.
“It’s our intent to make sure our facility meets all standards not only currently, but going into the future. So what we don’t want to have happen is a change in status, and then suddenly be put in a position where we have to retroactively try and do something. That would be very catastrophic to our group.”
The LFGA is hoping for $186,000 for the first year for engineering and consulting, and more than $1.6 million in year two for construction.
It’s not going to be an easy task to upgrade though, explains Hopkins. He says while doing their research on how exactly to go about renovating and upgrading their facility, they realized that there are very few ranges in North America they can use as good examples.
“Some of the military ones are very sophisticated, but it’s not the same in comparison because they’re shooting machine guns and bombs and all of the rest of it. So we have a substantive amount of money for engineering to make sure we conform to all of the standards that need to be put in place. But we will in some cases, be starting from square one, designing things that either don’t exist in other facilities, or are enhancements.”
Hopkins says the association would help to offset costs by donating time and materials, and by paying the city back $20,000 per year for the term of their lease until 2036, and to ensure community safety, they will contribute $30,000 a year for youth training programs.
“We would also donate $100,000 in time, labour and materials to help offset costs during the construction.”
If approved, he says the shooting range would be one of the most innovative and creative in Canada.
Council will select CIP recipients in June.