A Rye businessman wants to build a firearms training facility in Groton, just west of Plymouth.
Groton doesn't have any zoning.
That makes it nearly impossible for the town to block the project...if it wants to.
No zoning means no public hearing.
No public hearing means rumors are flying around about just what a firearms training facility is.
At the same time, some residents have organized opposition...and hired a lawyer.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein has the story.
William Gifford believes he's got a great business model.
He's done the research- there's nothing like what he wants to do within 1000 miles of New Hampshire.
The icing on the cake?...Gifford says he will be serving the country at the same time he's making a living.
He says proudly, he wants to bring a world class firearms training facility to New Hampshire.
20:53 our goal here is to serve those who are serving our country...Whether that is on the local level, the state level, the regional level, all the way up to federal agencies and our military.
Committing his vision to paper has been much easier than the bricks and mortar part.
Since Gifford incorporated the North American Training Lodge, he says he's looked at 48 different properties.
The wish list for the ideal site: rural location, but close enough to major airports and roads, a big piece of land with few neighbors.
After 40-some possibilities, he thought he found the spot he wanted in Farmington.
But citing local ordinances, town officials killed his plan late last year.
Now Gifford has moved to plan B.
He says he's negotiating with people in Groton about an 1100 acre parcel of land.
12:14 it's going to look like a very modern, state of the art shooting facility. You are going to have multiple shooting ranges for handguns, shotguns, you are going to have some longer ranges for rifles. (FADE DOWN) You are going to have some state of the art clay pigeon type of shotgun shooting range. You are going to have a very modern indoor range, you are going to have some support buildings...
Gifford's blueprints also call for residential homes where clients can stay during visits, a fitness center and corporate office.
But if all Gifford wanted to build was high-end shooting ranges, his business wouldn't be terribly unique, or controversial.
What would make the North American Training Lodge special, says Gifford, would be its ability to simulate real-life scenarios.
For example, a SWAT team could use one of his outbuildings to practice entering a building by blowing a door off its hinges.
While the thought of explosions has some in Groton concerned about noise, Gifford explains explosion isn't really the right word.
17:37 the sound of an explosion is not even, explosion is not even the correct term. An explosion implies out of control, massive fireball that you would see in the movies. This is no where near that. This is very controlled detonations with a purpose. And the idea is to use the smallest amount- the amount of training that will occur using this type of explosive is very minimal. It's not going to be going on everyday.
Gifford adds that the actual decibel rating for what he calls 'a charge to enter a structure' is less than a report on a shotgun.
Another service Gifford says he may offer involves helicopters.
18:47 As for helicopters, we are talking a handful of training events a year...this isn't something that is going to happen on a weekly or daily basis. So I think the fears there of the skies over Groton being filled with helicopters on a nightly basis are overblown.
Groton resident Kevin Masse says if he wanted the sound of gunshots, helicopters and explosions, he never would have left Long Island.
4:06 we can hear Cannan race track from Groton and it's like 18-20 miles away. And you can hear the cars on the race track on a Friday night. These guys are like we aer not going to make that much noise. You don't understand, when it's silent, the six towns around us are going to hear that noise.
In response to North America Training Lodge's proposal, a group of residents from Groton and the surrounding area have formed the Concerned Citizens for Regional Impact.
In addition to noise, the project has many concerned the facility could hurt property values and the damage the environment.
Add to that fear, that Groton doesn't have zoning, and the Concerned Citizens hired a lawyer.
Lacking any zoning, the town has no ability to formally block the Lodge.
But the group's attorney Barry Shuster says there are options.
7:36 Groton still has the authority given by state law to adopt interim regulations when there are unusual circumstances...so that it can review this to see if it is something that consistent with the town master plan.
Even if the town adopts interim regulations, North American Training Lodge could argue those measures were established after the company began its project.
Former state senator Mark Hounsell lived in Groton and represented it during the mid-80's.
He cautions anyone who riles up towns folks that it's a community made up of, in his words ornery independents.
2:55 you know I suppose some corporate entity can come in and pull some legal buttons and achieve what it is they want to do, but at the same time I would caution people who attempt to do such a thing, it may not bode well. You may not get the desired results from that. I don't know what the people of Groton will do. But I do know one thing, if they don't like what is being in their town, they will do something.
North American Training Lodge President William Gifford says he is sensitive to the community reaction and cares what his potential neighbors think.
32:51 it would be foolish to make a large investment in community that would be adversarial to us continually. We can't have that on a business level. That’s just a fundamental fact.
Gifford and town officials haven't been able to reach an agreement on a meeting spot where Groton residents can hear the company's plan.
It's not clear whether the two sides can reach agreement in the near future.
Gifford says he plans to move ahead on building the lodge.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
