State agencies are beginning a more thorough review of a single eastern Connecticut site as the potential home for a new state police firearms training facility.
Efforts during the past year to identify a location for the gun range were met by strong resistance from homeowners in several Connecticut towns previously under consideration to host the facility.
Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Melody Currey said the potential property is private land in Griswold situated around state-owned forest.
"We are 77 percent surrounded by state-owned land," Currey said. "Ten percent of the additional land is owned by a gun club. It has a lot of natural barriers, woods, that will help mute the sound. The closest neighbor is .6 miles."
The current Simbury facility is 60 years old and has wrestled with flooding issues.
Currey said it's also too small.
The new complex will have separate pistol, active shooter, rifle, and shotgun ranges. She said this will help to prepare officers for the kinds of challenges they may encounter in today’s world, "...where you have someone enter a building with a gun, or a bomb or some other device that’s going to harm people," she said. "And how would they go about securing that individual, and shutting that down. They also will have a location where they can pull in and how to shoot from a car, how to get out of your car with your gun and secure the situation also."
Currey expects there to be an hour and a half to two hours of shooting at the gun range each day.
Next, the state begins negotiations for the property. There will be appraisals and an environmental impact study.
Currey said she anticipates the project to cost about $6 million.
Griswold’s Board of Selectmen is to schedule a forum to hear from residents about their views on the project.
