Cudahy is getting a 'high-end' gun range with 40 shooting lanes, classes, firearm rentals and sales

If all goes as planned for the new owner, Cudahy will get a gun range.

The city’s plan commission on Tuesday approved a conditional-use permit, 4-1, and a plan review, 5-0, for Eagle Gun Club LLC for a shooting range at 2525 E. Layton Ave.

The approvals include several conditions, such as no outdoor shooting, hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, not more than 50 full-time employees and protocols to prevent the theft of rental firearms.

Owner and operator Omar Ahmad plans to offer a “full experience” to patrons, including a 40-lane shooting range to 50 yards, which he said is found nowhere else in Wisconsin and allows hunters to zero their weapons. The facility is also designed to allow competition shooting.

In addition to the range, Eagle Gun Club plans to offer classes, firearm rentals and sales.

“We’re primarily a shooting range,” Ahmad said, adding he wants to offer a “high-end product” that is “a little more premium” than typical shooting ranges.

The project includes renovating the existing building and constructing a 60-by-56-foot addition on the south side of the structure. Construction is expected to take between six and eight months, Ahmad said, adding he should be closing on the 5.5-acre property purchase in about two weeks.

Mayor Thomas Pavlic said the city’s rules, laws and license committee still must examine the city’s ordinance dealing with discharging firearms within city limits, which will also go before the common council for review. The site plan, which includes landscaping and signs, must also go before the city’s design review board.

Community concerns

A handful of residents spoke against the proposal during a public hearing before  the vote.

“Cudahy has a real image issue, and the last thing we need is a gun shop,” said Bob Poplar.

Commissioner Jim Zsebe cast the only vote against the permit, citing a portion of the city code that states conditional use permits are granted only if the proposed use “is found to be not hazardous, harmful, offensive, or otherwise adverse to the environment or the value of the neighborhood or the city.”

Zsebe said he wasn’t convinced the project wouldn’t be harmful, and he cited resident objections as proof it was, in some manner, offensive.

However, the current B-5 property zoning (with a planned unit development overlay) allows for various uses, and indoor shooting ranges are included in city code as an allowed conditional use.

Ald. Michele St. Marie-Boelkow expressed some concern with the proposal but said while she is not in favor of the project, personally, she voted yes because the purpose of the plan commission is to look at and evaluate zoning.

One of those concerns included a fully automatic experience Ahmad offers at his Illinois location. There, visitors can try out a fully automatic weapon under tight scrutiny. St. Marie-Boelkow suggested prohibiting that experience at the Cudahy location.

Explaining the experience, Ahmad said the customer holds the rifle for “a matter of seconds” to try out the automatic mode, and then it goes back to an employee.

Whether this would be offered at the Cudahy location was not finalized.

Contact Erik S. Hanley at (262) 875-9467 or erik.hanley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ES_Hanley.