An Echo Lake landowner’s proposal for a rifle shooting range, which has stirred some opposition from neighbors, will be the subject of a hearing Thursday afternoon.

Michael Krachun of Bigfork proposed the range on 60 acres of wooded land near Echo Lake.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing Thursday and will forward its recommendation to the Flathead County Board of Adjustment for a final hearing and decision on June 7.

Krachun has applied for a conditional-use permit for a rifle range at 395 Echo Bay Trail, near Talmadge Lake and the northern half of Echo Lake. The property is zoned agricultural with a 40-acre minimum lot size, which allows rifle ranges as a conditional use.

The application acknowledges there will be noise from the discharge of firearms. The nearest residence is more than 500 feet away.

“This is a neighborhood noise issue. This place is a really bad fit” for a shooting range, said Kalispell attorney Duncan Scott, who has been hired to represent a group of neighbors opposed to the range.

Krachun, a New Jersey native who has lived in Bigfork full time for many years, said when he purchased the property three years ago he wanted to know how the property could be used and learned that a rifle range is among the conditional uses.

“I understand where people might be upset,” Krachun said. “But if they were informed by their real estate agents [what the conditional and permitted uses are for property in that area], I think we’d have less problems.”

Hours of operation would be from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset, the application noted. No night-time use would be allowed and access gates would be locked at night.

“An adequate bullet backstop will be installed to protect against leaving the target site,” the application states. “The targets and backstop will be designed to prevent any ricochet bullets.”

Krachun said the facility will not have explosive targets. Assault rifles, hunting rifles and handguns are among the firearms that could be used at the range.

“The site has been approved by the Sheriff’s Department to be absolutely safe,” Krachun said. “There are sand shooting bunkers. It’s in a deep bowl where projectiles can’t get out of it. It’s going to be run professionally.”

No fencing, screening or lighting are planned.

The range will be used by appointment only. “It’s not a gun club,” Krachun said.

A maximum of 25 vehicles per day is anticipated. A gravel parking lot would be constructed on the property.

Flathead County Planning Director Mark Mussman said the proposed shooting range has raised questions among neighbors.

“There has been a little bit of concern, just like with any other gun range,” Mussman said. “Noise has been the one issue that is up in the air.”

While there are larger tracts of property south of Krachun’s land, his property is next to dozens of smaller homesites.

Scott, who is on the National Rifle Association’s approved list of lawyers, pointed out that the proposed shooting range is not an issue about gun rights but rather is a project ill-suited to a quiet, highly populated area.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee meets at 4 p.m. Thursday at Bethany Lutheran Church, 8559 Montana 35 in Bigfork.

The Board of Adjustment meets at 6 p.m. June 7 in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.