Rifle hunting options up for discussion at CC hearing
Options designed to make deer hunting with high-power rifles safer and to possibly limit the length of rifle season will be on the table when Charles City’s Board of Supervisors hosts a public hearing on the fate of the county’s rifle law.
The April 22 hearing is to solicit public input on the issue of retaining county law as it now stands or doing away with rifle use, except for muzzle-loaded firearms, during general deer season.
Those are the extremes under consideration. Compromise measures are also in the works whereby the existing law could be modified to prohibit rifle fire within 1,000 feet of any residence or require rifles to be unloaded when carried on the ground. The latter proposal means rifles cannot be loaded until after a hunter has taken a position in an elevated tree stand. Rifles then must be unloaded before a hunter climbs down.
Then, supervisors are also considering a proposal to retain the existing law, with or without added safety precautions, and limit the rifle season length. County Administrator Jack Miniclier said supervisors could opt for restricting high-power use to one, two, three, or four weeks.
Supervisors decided on the options for public hearing during their March 25 meeting.
Charles City adopted a high-power rifle hunting during general firearm season ordinance in 2005. The law, however, limits rifle fire to elevated tree stands at least 10 feet in height. Two hunting seasons have passed since the measure was adopted and there have been no reported incidents or injuries.
Opponents back then vowed to stay active, and in last November’s election ousted three-term supervisor Michael Holmes in District 2. Holmes had voted with District 1 representative Gilbert Smith in adopting the law while District 3 Supervisor Timothy Cotman opposed the measure. Sherri Bowman, who campaigned against high-power rifle use, won the District 2 seat.
Just after Bowman was seated in January, the rifle issue resurfaced. In February, hunters and those opposed packed the high school’s auditorium with both sides giving board members an earful on the controversy.
Supervisors scheduled a March public hearing, but later postponed until the April date in order to give county staff time to devise options for consideration.
The public hearing coincides with the board’s regular monthly meeting and is to be held in the government building auditorium.
In other matters during the board’s March 25 meeting, supervisors approved a request to rezone just over eight acres off Willcox Neck Road from its current agriculture and business classification to multifamily residential.
The action paves the way for building 22 duplex units (44 residences in all) at River’s Rest Marina. Miniclier said the project is to be built in phases as capacity is expanded at a nearby water/sewer treatment plant. Twelve units are to be built during the first phase.
In another housing-related matter, supervisors approved subdivision plans for Trevor’s Bend, a 35-unit subdivision to be built off Barnett’s Road, south of the Lott Cary Road intersection.
Developer Corey Cotman plans to build on 40 acres of a 95-acre parcel, Miniclier said. The land is already zoned agricultural.
Supervisors, meanwhile, learned that Charles City’s temporary branch of Heritage Public Library should open in mid- to late-April inside the multipurpose room of the county’s new courthouse building.
The board also approved preliminary design and location plans for a permanent library branch. Plans call for a 15,000 square-foot building to be located on county-owned land just south of the new courthouse. The new structure will also house the county’s Center for Local History.
Supervisors authorized the library’s foundation to begin with money-raising efforts for the new branch, Miniclier said.
Also, Miniclier reported that the Waste Management landfill in the county should not reach capacity for another 51 years. The estimate, he said, is based on the landfill taking in an average of 2,000 tons of trash per day.