FBI firing range a possibility

Jeremy Nash news-herald.net

Loudon County could be in the running for a firing range funded and constructed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Loudon County Sheriff’s Office Lt. AJ Yokley and Sheriff Tim Guider at a July 10 meeting of the Loudon County Solid Waste Disposal Commission told board members LCSO was notified earlier that week of the possibility.

The two parcels considered — one about five acres and the other about 40 acres — are owned by the solid waste board and located next to Matlock Bend Landfill off Highway 72. Yokley requested the board allow the FBI to determine feasibility.

Commissioner Kelly Littleton-Brewster motioned and Art Stewart seconded, with the only opposing vote from Dennis Stewart.

“They’ve not promised us anything, they just want to look at the land,” Yokley said. “Like I told them last night, they could look at it and decide it’s not worthy and then we’re back at square one, but I think it would be in the best interest of the county and all agencies if we at least attempted to do this. I mean if we can partner up with them then that’s just a win-win for the county. “... It would be a county-wide training facility,” he added. “Obviously, the range and stuff would be for law enforcement ... but our goal in what we started out actually we saw a need for it and we started looking at this was just an opportunity that I was told about and I reached out to the FBI and asked them about it.”

Blount and Knox counties have already been removed as a possible sites, Yokley said, noting the location considered would be suitable next to Interstate 75. How much land is needed is still unknown, but Yokley said the FBI is looking to make a decision on a site within 3-4 weeks.

The FBI is requesting a 30-year memorandum of understanding so it can use the facility for its own training, Yokely said.

The site could have classroom training and three 20-lane ranges with turning targets for use only by the FBI and local law enforcement and would not be open 24 hours per day, Guider said.

“If they decide to go with us, everybody’s going to have to sit down so that we’re all on the same page,” Yokley said. “We don’t want any surprises going to anybody, and, like I said, what they’re asking for we may not be able to do. Right now it’s just in the beginning stages of it. They’re looking to see if it’s going to be suitable for what they want or what they would like to do, and like I told (the solid waste disposal commission) last night, they may just tell us, ‘Thanks but no thanks. It’s not what we want’.”

The property considered is a potential spot for soil use by landfill operator Santek Waste Services, Steve Field, solid waste board chairman, said.

“Santek is going to need soil in the future and potentially that’s where the soil’s going to coming from, but we need to negotiate with Santek about what the specifics are about what they need exactly and where exactly is it going to come from and how are they going to leave that area when they get through borrowing the soil,” Field said. “Those are all subject to future negotiations.

“... If there’s a property that we have that’s excess to our needs for solid waste, if there’s other uses that the stakeholders could use it for I’m not opposed to it, but I think if we do something like this the stakeholders need to be intimately involved in the decision-making process,” he added.

Stewart was opposed because he worried it could hurt future growth.

“My reasoning was the Tennessee National, the people who live in that community and the Matlock Bend community, and to me that’s our prime tax revenue, potential tax revenue property,” Stewart said. “Because of the noise factor and those are my citizens. I just don’t think a firing (range) with that kind of noise is something I want to subject them to, and so not sure about the liability. ... They’d have to really show me that there wasn’t going to be any noise or liability and at this time I don’t think they can do that.”

One of those residents is Loudon City Manager Ty Ross, who was at the solid waste board meeting.

“We talk about the noise and I hear law enforcement professionals say it’s not that bad,” Ross said at the meeting. “Well, I like to go to Monterey Mushroom and talk about the smell and they tell me it’s not that bad. ... Tennessee National is here now. Lighthouse Pointe is here now. More development will come. The future of the tax base, not just the city of Loudon, but the future tax base of Loudon County in general is on Matlock Bend.

“If you build out Tennessee National as platted that’s an additional $2 million of tax revenue a year, most of which would go to the county,” he added. “I’m all about law enforcement, but the salaries, the benefit, the equipment of law enforcement has to come from the tax dollars and if we put in a training facility that might hinder our ability to collect tax dollars in the future, that’s something we have to duly consider.”

A firing range funded by the FBI could help keep training inside the county since LCSO now travels to Blount County. The county previously utilized a Tennessee Valley Authority range before it closed in 2007, Yokley said, leading officials to consider building a training facility for local emergency agencies that never happened because the cost was too great.

“Like I said, it could be if something happened here and we have to leave to come back to the county, it’s 25-30 minutes away,” Yokley said. “Is that going to change the outcome of a certain event? It may or may not, we don’t know, but it would be a lot easier for us to respond from somewhere inside the county than it is to leave the county and go outside our jurisdiction.”

FBI Public Information Officer Jason Pack said the FBI is in “very preliminary discussions about partnering with a local law enforcement agency.”

“Historically, we have been able to work with other departments near our resident agencies throughout our area on similar, mutually beneficial firing-range projects,” Pack said in an email correspondence. “We value our relationships with all East Tennessee law enforcement agencies, including those in Loudon County and look forward to close cooperation in the future.”