Special Meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016 – 7:00pm
September’s regular Monthly Meeting will be extended to include a Special Meeting to hold a final vote on proceeding with the Big Bore Range Improvement Project. This meeting will be on Tuesday, September 13th, and will start earlier than normal at 7:00 PM. The regular business will be handled first, and then the Big Bore project update will follow.
All members are encouraged to attend to record your vote.
A message from Al Anganes, Committee Chair:
Special Meeting Notice:
As the membership voted, the big bore range improvement project has been moving forward and great deal of work has been done by the committee. Many of the technical details of the project are being finalized, there have been meetings with potential contractors, fundraising has been ongoing, and an in depth analysis of the club’s financial projections has been studied. A report on this status was made to the club board, and it was voted by the board to present this funding proposal to the membership for a vote. This will take place at the September general meeting.Project Status Update:
Continued work on the final designs for the features of the range tells us that we should be able to complete this work within the originally prescribed budget, but to do so we will need to rely on some volunteer labor on the part of interested club members. The heavy excavation work (grading, installation of the culvert, etc) will be completed by a general contractor as planned, while for some parts like the “no blue sky” baffles, landscaping, etc. will rely on labor contributions of members to help out in order to meet budget. Those projects are of similar scope and nature to others we have done with members assistance (skeet field, several indoor range rehabs, trap field upgrades, etc) so are eminently do-able.Work has been ongoing for determining how we can finance this project in a manner that is workable and fiscally responsible for the club. Individual contributions have been substantial, totaling $31,104 that have come from a relatively small number of donors. We had hoped for more in the way of contributions but given where we stand currently, for planning purposes we assumed that we will finance $200,000 of this project, and a budget and funding model was put together.
This model was based on income and expense data from the treasurer from the past few years and projects forward, making adjustments for overall rising costs, etc.
Making this work will rely on two key parts:
- We will be looking to have members invest in this club and project to raise this money. We are hoping to find at least ten members willing to invest $20,000 to be paid back over ten years with an interest rate of 3%. A few members that we have asked about this (to gauge interest) have already expressed an interest in doing so. Any members interested in additional info on this, please contact club VP Alan Anganes.
- In order that we can service the $200,000 in loans that we must finance, and s?ll maintain the financial health of our treasury, there is a $40/year assessment proposed that begins next year and ends after six years.
By way of commentary I’d like to say that as has been noted before, this is a large and complex project, likely the largest we have undertaken beyond the initial purchase of the property in the 1930’s. And while the cost in dollars seems large, the value this will bring to our club will pay the same sorts of dividends going forward that those with the foresight to purchase our property have paid for us. A project of this magnitude happens once in a genera?on for an organization like ours, and it has fallen to us to make this happen. This is far more than just an upgrade to our facility; it is an investment in the long term health of this club. I have every bit of confidence in this club to do this project that I had when we started studying it. We have an impressive array of talented members who have volunteered countless hours to getting us this far, there is no doubt that we can see this through, and continue to make the Lowell Sportsmen’s Club a premiere club that we can all enjoy and take pride in.
Unfortunately I cannot attend the meeting on Sept 13.
I was hoping to attend because I am anxious to hear the discussion regarding noise issues that will result from moving the big bore shooting stations up to the main level. I am concerned that the noise increase will be significant and will negatively effect the shooting experience on the #1 trap field and the skeet field.
And, I am interested to hear if other members are as disappointed as me that pistol shooting will not be part of the new range. I only voted in support of the project at the last meeting because I thought pistol shooting was part of it.
That is too bad you can’t make the meeting Phil, but thanks for the input. The thinking is that since the big bore range’s firing line will be 8′ below the level of the parking lot, with a wall on three sides and also covered, all the noise (or at least most of it) will be directed downrange and away from the parking lot (and trap and skeet). As for pistol, after it became clear that doing both rifle and pistol on one range would be difficult to accommodate, the idea was floated to convert the existing .22 range into a centerfire pistol range, and reopen the old .22 range next to the archery range. More investigation needs to be done on how to do this, but it is under review. We’re also still investigating the possibility of short-range targets using the impact area of the new big bore range, so pistol shooters would be able to use it too. I’m sorry for not having more concrete answers at this point, but the committee and the eboard definitely heard the need to better accommodate pistol shooters and are working on the best solution.