Archery Range Becomes Battleground Between Owner, County, Neighbors

It’s supposed to be an archery range.

Instead, a 28-acre site in Greenacres has become a battleground for Mark Jones, his neighbors and several county officials.

Neighbors have been videotaping and taking photos.

They claim Jones, who opened Spokane Valley Archery this spring, is violating county rules and requirements. And they say they’ll keep documenting violations and gathering evidence as long as they see problems.

Their complaints, sent along to county officials, have led to an order stopping all work on the clubhouse Jones had hoped to complete this winter. Jones blames his problem on a county mistake, and on neighbors who don’t know when to accept defeat. They’ve been fighting his public archery range for more than a year, first with public testimony, appeals and legal challenges, and now, he says, with photos, video and false accusations.

“I can’t believe it,” said Jones, who was ordered Tuesday to stop all work on the project. “It’s been the worst year of my life.”

The neighborhood battle began last year, when Jones applied for a conditional use permit to open an indoor/outdoor archery facility along Linke Road south of Barker Road and 32nd Avenue. His plans included a 9,000-square-foot clubhouse with a pro shop, education programs, rentals and even a kiddie play area.

The range currently offers several outdoor shooting areas with life-size styrofoam animal targets.

Neighbors, who worried about traffic and trespassing and flying arrows, fought the plan. They lost in the end. The permit was approved, along with numerous requirements regarding operation of the range and construction within the site’s floodplain.

Now, neighbors are blaming the county for failing to make sure Jones follows all of the rules. And Jones is blaming the county for issuing him a grading permit then ordering him to stop all grading, even outside the floodplain.

For their part, county officials say they don’t have the staff to go out and police all of the permits they grant. “We depend upon neighbors to be our eyes and ears,” said county planner Louis Webster, who is working on the Jones project. “And Jones has some very persistent neighbors.”

Neighbors Floyd Schmedding and Kent Hickman have complained about target placement, exterior lighting, after-dark activity at the range and arrows flying onto their property. Some of the complaints have been valid, Webster said. Others have not.

In August, they complained that Jones was building an earthen berm on his property. The berm - designed to stop arrows - was located “smack in the middle of a floodplain,” said Tammie Williams, the county’s floodplain administrator.

Because Jones didn’t have a floodplain development permit, Williams issued a stop-work order.

Jones still hasn’t received the floodplain permit. He was issued a grading permit, and said Tuesday he believed this gave him authority to grade a section of the project site not within the floodplain.

“They keep jumping the gun,” said Williams, who ordered him to stop until he receives his floodplain permit. To get that permit, she said, problems with the floodplain analysis he submitted must be worked out.

Schmedding, who saw bulldozers and dump trucks working on the property, reported the violation.

If Jones continues to violate the stop-work order, the county prosecutor’s office could take action. Although unlikely, he could face a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

“He chooses to ignore the rules,” said Schmedding, who accuses Jones of knowingly pushing the limits.

John Konen disagrees. Konen, a development consultant with David Evans and Associates who is working on the project, calls the mistakes honest. They resulted from a lack of communication, he said, especially between the different officials who issue the different permits.

“The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing at the county,” Konen said.

The result has been several months of construction delays, he said. And winter is fast approaching. And the battle continues.

“We just don’t know (what’s next),” Konen said. “We’re kind of in spin cycle.”