GRANDVIEW, Mo. — It sounds like a warzone.
Neighbors living near a city-owned gun range in Grandview said the findings of a noise study prove the sounds of gunfire they’ve been hearing are too loud.
Now people living along Robinson Pike Road told FOX4 the city owes them some peace and quiet.
The results of a noise study, conducted by Lenexa-based Avant Acoustics, a company that specializes in noise control, have been released by Grandview city leaders.
Avant Acoustics recorded sounds that measured as loud as 100 decibels, which neighbors said have been loud enough to rattle their windows. It’s roughly the same audio level as a rock concert or helicopter engine.
When the city of Grandview built its new firing range in September, people living along Robinson Pike Road complained that it was much louder than the city’s former gun range, which sits just down the street.
The new range remained open for only three days before city leaders shut it down, amid a stream of complaints from neighbors.
The new range has been closed ever since. A spokesperson for the City of Grandview said it will remain closed until the noise problem is resolved.
“It was a constant pop-pop-pop,” said Nancy Ward, a homeowner near the gun range.
The previous gun range was used only for police training, but city leaders intend to make the new range available to the public, which is sure to bring more guns and more noise.
Roughly 20 homes sit within view of the gun range, but hundreds sit within earshot.
“My windows didn’t rattle from the other range,” Ward said. “They didn’t give us very long to test what else was going to happen with the noise because they shut it down so fast. They knew we were offended.”
“I haven’t been in a warzone, but it would be similar to a war zone,” Alan Hanks, another neighbor, told FOX4. “The noise was so intense.”
Voters in Grandview approved the new range in 2014 and construction began four years later. Neighbors FOX4 spoke with said if they’d known this trouble awaited them, they might have cast their vote in a different way.
“The city needs to have the citizens interest at heart. The citizens come first,” Hanks added.
Researchers who conducted the noise study will join Grandview city leaders at a public meeting on Feb. 20. The meeting will run from 4-6 p.m. at The View, which is located on Byars Road. The public is welcome to attend.
