The Spurwink Rod & Gun Club was again denied its operating license by the Cape Elizabeth Town Council Monday following a one-hour public hearing attended by more than 70 opponents and proponents of the 61-year-old club.

Councilors voted unanimously to table a final decision about whether to grant the club its license, but said if the club can guarantee 100-percent shot containment on its 25-yard range by the council’s Oct. 14 meeting, then it would approve the application and allow the resumption of live fire.

Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams ordered the suspension of live fire on the Sawyer Road property in July after Rick LaRosa, a gun safety expert hired by the town, determined that the club was unsafe for neighbors and members. LaRosa found several safety deficiencies on the range during his inspection, including a lack of barriers to contain stray bullets. He also determined that security measures on the property do not prevent non-gun club members from entering the range.

The independent safety report was completed as part of a new licensing process that is required under the town’s shooting range ordinance, adopted by the council in March 2014.

More than a dozen Cape Elizabeth residents, as well as residents of South Portland and Scarborough, spoke during the public hearing. While several advocated for the license to be denied, a handful of residents urged the council to issue a conditional license that would allow the club to resume live fire under a so-called hardship exemption provision in the shooting range ordinance.

Cape Elizabeth resident Kathleen Kent, who lives on Wells Road, which connects to the Cross Hill neighborhood behind the shooting range, told councilors she was aware a gun club was located nearby when she purchased her home in 1992.

“It seems to me the town should have some protections for the people and the activities that pre-existed before the development,” Kent said. “I still do not understand why people choose to live next to a gun club and then want to shut it down.”

Kent also said if safety is of utmost concern for residents, then they should help foot the bill for range improvements.

William Morris, a resident of Cross Hill Road, said he was concerned that some bullets have the ability to travel up to 3 miles and was curious about how many children lived within a 3-mile radius of the shooting range.

“What disgusts me is that people don’t have any feeling that this could happen,” Morris said. “This could definitely happen. There’s a danger without overhead baffling.”

According to another Cape Elizabeth resident, Sara Lennon, the gun club’s operation does not only affect immediate neighbors.

“This is indeed, very much, a full town issue,” she said. “I know people all over town who have strong opinions about this, in both directions. I know people who won’t ride their bikes by (the club) because they find it too unsettling and violent.”

Scarborough resident Tim Lindsay, a military veteran, disagreed. He said the Spurwink Rod & Gun Club fills a major need in the Cape Elizabeth community since soon in the state, “it looks like people are going to be able to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.”

“There are women and men that are going to need training, because they’ll want to carry a firearm,” Lindsay said.

Though the club’s 25-yard target area could reopen as soon as next month with the council’s blessing, live fire will remain suspended on the club’s 50- and 100-yard ranges. Councilors indicated Monday they would only approve the license in October if club members can show Code Enforcement Officer Ben McDougal that 100 percent of the bullets can be contained on the club’s 25-yard range and is compliant with LaRosa’s design for the facility.

While reviewing the Firing Range Committee’s findings and recommendations, councilors also discussed whether an expert should certify the club’s lead management plan, which the club submitted to the town as part of the licensing process.

“There is no independent (Department of Environmental Protection) evaluation done by the Firing Range Committee,” Councilor Caitlin Jordan said.

“We all have environmental concerns, but to me the shot-containment issue is a far more urgent one,” said Councilor Jessica Sullivan.

While gun club president Tammy Walter urged the councilors Monday to approve the license “because it’s the fair and right thing to do,” following the meeting she told the Current that she respected the council’s decision to table issuing the license. She said she is “confident” that the club’s license would be approved next month.

Gun club members have spent the last year making safety improvements to its facility, such as erecting shot containment walls and rubber backstop berms, and adding ballistic sand to the target areas, to address ongoing noise and safety concerns and to bring the range into compliance with the ordinance.

The club’s 50- and 100-yard ranges could also reopen in phases in the next several months if 100-percent shot containment is achieved and after McDougal determines requirements are met, according to Jordan, who is also a member of the town’s Firing Range Committee.

The committee, which was established under the ordinance, deemed the club’s first renewal license application complete in June, after determining that the range operates safely under state and local laws. During that meeting, committee members voted 4-1, with member and Cross Hill Road resident Cathy Kline opposed, to recommend that the council approve the license application.

Longtime Cape Elizabeth resident Alexa Ward, who lives on Sawyer Road, said the range where she learned to shoot has never made her feel unsafe. But safety isn’t just determined by achieving shot containment, said Ward. It’s also the gun club members’ responsibility to practice safe shooting, which they do, she said.

“It’s a very mindful process for the people who go to shoot their guns at the gun range,” Ward said. “They don’t just shoot guns up into the air.”

Walter told councilors Monday that with the exception of overhead baffles, which the club began installing on its range two weeks ago, the club has complied with the recommendations in LaRosa’s safety report. Walter said the overhead baffles, as recommended by LaRosa, are beyond what other outdoor shooting ranges in Maine feature.

“This far exceeds anything that any of our peers have had to install for safety,” she said.

According to Walter, the club believes that a group of Cross Hill Road neighbors wants to see the club get shut down permanently, which is “not fair,” considering the shooting range existed well before the nearby development.

“We have bent over backward to try to accommodate them,” she said. “Our efforts to improve safety have gotten us nowhere except shut down. This is not about safety or noise. They want us gone.”

Two Spurwink Rod & Gun Club members work on constructing a frame on the Sawyer Road shooting range, where an overhead ricochet baffle will soon be installed.