woodbutcher

Season's Greetings, NJCK. I do have a sense of what the past history has been between the Twp and USANA and therein lies the bulk of the conundrum. Handshake agreements were mostly done to the mutual benefit of the parties involved often without serious consideration to the legality or future consequences of their actions. By doing this, an atmosphere of permissiveness and a sense of entitlement will often flourish to the point where certain liberties are taken and, almost inevitably, it is noticed and the local laws are enforced. There are limits and boundaries and we all know what they are. Exceed the limits or cross the boundaries at your own peril. As far as shooting in one's own backyard, that is done on a regular basis here. I do not believe there are any municipal regulations against that.

As a longtime supporter of 2nd Amendment rights and after attending almost all the planning board meetings regarding USANA, the decision handed down centered on zoning approvals that were or were not in place over the 50+/- years the gun club operated. The fact that USANA operated as a nonconforming use and needed zoning variances for anything other than what was originally approved was a huge factor in the decision. The expansion of ranges and the level of activities over the years were not approved and this is what put USANA in the unfortunate bind they are in today.

You say USANA now has a 200yd range available? This is good news! Sometimes you need a bit more of a challenge than the 100yd range can provide.

Got an email from a friend of mine in North Jersey and he said he saw a listing for a gun club in Elmer on Remax and was wondering if it was USANA. Any one hear anything about this?

My sincere congrats to Matt! He did us proud!! Got an email today from a friend in North Jersey saying he saw a listing on a Remax Real Estate site that showed a sportsmans club property for sale in Elmer. He wanted to know if it was USANA. Anybody heard anything about this?

This is what I have been told is the center of the issue. Many years ago USANA was given permission to operate on their present property as a nonconforming use in an Agricultural Zone. This permission was granted by resolutions that mandated that they operate as a "private, not-for-profit, sportsman's association." In a declaration by the twp's zoning officer in February 2011, certain activities were permitted to take place there and certain activities that take place there needed an application to and approval by the twp planning board. This meeting with the planning board is USANA's appeal of the zoning official's declaration. USANA is permitted to operate as a sportsman's association as long as they are a private club and operate within the structure of a nonprofit according to IRS and NJ laws. I do not believe that anyone is trying to shut them down or deny anyone's 2nd Amendment rights. They just need to get certain approvals for what they want to do there. This was explained to me by a very reliable source whose integrity I do not doubt.

Thanks again. I'll wait to hear from you.

Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it.

[font="Verdana"]I'm a new poster here and I'm interested in the paintball games there at USANA. Is there a schedule put together yet and what's up with the insurance there? Any idea what it costs?[/font]

Joel, I understand your concerns. It's a big world out there but it can get real small real quick when there's quality of life issues. Guess we all have to respect each other's rights and try to get along the best we can. The part about the auto weps is a bit distrubing to me as a responsible gun owner. Guess that the LEO's shooting. I'm hearing that this got to be a night time habit, too, with Harborsite. Can't imagine anyone shooting in the dark, litterally. Everyone's got the right pursue their own thing but when it gets to be a problem there has to be some sort of mutual understanding as to what is best for all. I keep hearing how the Harborsite people were pretty rude and thought they could do whatever they wanted. How come the local govt. let them operate like this? Seems like they created a whole bunch of legal problems for themselves and got in a little bit too deep.

From what I'm hearing from my Elmer friends this is where Harborsite got themselves in a jam. Supposedly, USANA is sanctioned as a private deal. Members only and there guests. And they are being told that this is in the zoning laws, too. If it's going to be open to the public there may be a problem plus the regular members don't want total strangers shooting alongside them. Can't blame them as this is the world we have to live in. Not all gun owners are as responsible or safety-minded as we are. Could get messy for Skip but I hope he's smart enough to get through it.

How about the LEO's going there? Will we have to compete for range time the way the other idiots ran the place? That was really crappy the way they disrespected the real sportsmen.

I talked to a few friends of mine from Elmer that are in the know with all of this and here's what they said. Harborsite got into a jam when the operated as a for-profit when USANA was always a non-profit plus there's some sort of regs that says they had to be a private club. Members only and not open to the public. They were supposed to get some sort of OK from the planning board but didn't and decided to fold up and leave town. Skip is supposed to take over and try to get more LEO's on board. That's where the big bucks are. As far as the yuppies are concerned they think most of the neighbors have been there quite a while, better part of 15-20 years or so. It's a bit of a mess right now. No one knows how it's all gonna shake out. Happy New Year to all!