DeKalb County Sheriff to use Aurora Sportsmen's Club as gun range per county board approval

SYCAMORE – The DeKalb County Board on Wednesday approved amendments to the existing permit for a gun club in the Village of Waterman which will allow for the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office to conduct firearm training at the facility and the club to offer private conceal carry courses.

The vote passed 18 for, one abstention (Terri Mann-Lamb District 7) and five against, with county board members Rukisha Crawford (District 6), Karen Cribben (District 11), Kiara Jones (District 5), Roy Plote (District 11), Scott Campbell (District 7) opposing the measure. The approval also allows for extended evening hours twice per month for police training or private events, not to go past 11 p.m. in June, July and August.

"We're satisfied with the ordinance as presented," said lawyer Kevin Buick, representing the Aurora Sportsmen's Club Wednesday during the virtual county board meeting. "We absolutely have got a long track record of working with Mr. Hiland and his department of making sure that the county is satisfied."

Those opposed to the amendment, such as Crawford, questioned whether the facility could also be used by the sheriff's office for diversity training. Others expressed concerns brought on by constituents who are neighbors to the facility in Waterman, saying the guns and lights from the facility would be a bother to neighboring homes.

Eric Callis, president of the club located in the Village of Waterman, which reopened May 15 following shutdown mandates from Gov. JB Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said efforts were made to appease neighbor concerns.

"We have reached out to all our neighbors," Callis said, adding the elevation from the gun club compared to neighboring homes has an impact. "We offered two avenues: we would be willing to send a professional window treatment designer that we have within our club to work with them to try to get those light and sound mitigating products to them at our expense. We have one neighbor who's going to be engaging us with that offer. The other thing we offered is this landscaping issue that got brought up."

Cribben said she lives about six miles from the gun club, which has been in operation since 2005, and can hear gunshots when members are active.

"I could hear that shooting this week," she said. "It didn't bother me, but for someone who lives next to it, it brought it home."

Derek Hiland, community development director for the county, said the amendment request came about from the members-only private gun club as a way to expand their offerings as part of a master plan identified by the club's stakeholders.

Crawford asked where the sheriff's office component came from.

"It was after the county's efforts to pursue getting our own gun range when the sportsmen's club stepped up and offered their facilities," Hiland said.

Hiland said the gun club plans to expand in the future.

"They're in a unique situation," he said. "When they came in the mid-2000's, they had very grandiose plans and were preparing for the Olympics to come to the City of Chicago. Membership fell during the housing bubble so they sold off some of the land they weren't going to utilize. Now that membership is growing again, they are opening themselves back to up considering certainly a bigger footprint."

Members of the gun club would also offer conceal carry classes through time slots which could be booked by non-members through a fee, said Plote.

"What kind of neighbor are they?" asked Tim Bagby (District 3), inquiring about complaints from neighbors in relation to the gun club.

"I'm not aware of many complaints," Hiland said. "The only time I hear of any complaint is not from a specific neighbor. One neighbor that had a previous issue I believe worked out that issue. Generally, any complaints come from the Village of Waterman regarding noise."

A public hearing was already held in relation to the request, where Callis said issues were addressed specifically in regards to neighbor's concerns.