Neighbors worried about gunfire oppose plan for Eagle Foothills land, seek more say
Many Eagle Foothills residents are not happy with the city’s proposal for 2,200 acres of Eagle-annexed Bureau of Land Management land.
The city established a working group last August to create a usage plan for the land. The goal was to have a plan where bicyclists, equestrians, hikers and target shooters could coexist. The groups had previously clashed, with equestrians and nearby residents worried about the target shooting going on in the area.
The working group submitted its suggestions to the Eagle City Council in July. Its plan includes a shooting range, ATV trails and equestrian trails — an attempt to accommodate all user groups. But neighbors are not happy.
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David Castro, a Foothills resident, said the ATV trail is planned to bump right up against his back fence.
“We all moved out here knowing that we were in close proximity to the BLM, but never anticipated it to be turned into a recreational park for ATV’s, a shooting range and other uses,” Castro said by phone on Monday. The proposed ATV trail ”not only creates noise and dust issues, but it is an invasion of privacy and diminishes our property values.”
Castro said the BLM group met with user groups, like equestrians, bicyclists and shooters, but failed to talk to neighbors.
Justin Feffer, whose house in an unannexed part of Ada County backs up to the BLM land, told City Council at a July 27 hearing that as Ada County residents, many of his neighbors did not get any notice about the BLM meetings.
“I am not opposed to people using public land,” Castro said. “They are trying to sneak this through without any input from the neighbors by going and garnering support from other user groups.”
Charlie Baun, an Eagle council member who was part of the Bureau of Land Management Work Group, said during the meeting that the work group had members whose homes backed up to the BLM land.
Opposition to the gun range
One of the major issues for the group to solve was firearm usage. BLM does not enforce a city ordinance against shooting within city limits, and the city says it does not have the resources to enforce the prohobition there, so people have been shooting on the land. The work group proposed that the City Council add exemptions to the ordinance for BLM land users.
Part of the BLM plan includes a gun range. Its location has not been finalized, but the potential sites are the eastern portion of the BLM land.
Michael Faraino, an Eagle resident near the BLM land and a recreational shooter, opposes the gun range.
“I don’t want to have a range 0.7 miles from my subdivision,” Fariano said at the council hearing. “I’m going to hear thousands of gun reports a day. I don’t care what you build or how you design it.”
Castro agreed. He called the gun range idea “ludicrous.”
“You don’t put a gun range on the outskirts of town,” Castro said.
According to results from a survey conducted by the BLM group, 80% of respondents said shooting is not compatible with biking, hiking, or horseback riding. Only 6 of 702 respondents said they shoot daily, 57 shoot weekly, 116 monthly, and 205 shoot anywhere from once every three months to once a year. Three hundred seven never shoot. Thirty-four respondents said they hunt weekly, and 635 never hunt.
After lengthy public input during the meeting in July, the council continued its BLM public hearing until its meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, in the City Council chamber.
Rachel Spacek covers western Ada and eastern Canyon counties. Have a story suggestion or a question? Email Spacek at rspacek@idahostatesman.com.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 4:17 PM.
