Panel to Decide if Proposed Shooting Range Hits Bull’s-Eye : Simi Valley: The indoor gallery would be operated by an Oxnard-based company and give police officers a place to practice.

Simi Valley police would have their target practice and neighbors their peace and quiet if a proposal to construct the city’s first indoor shooting range wins approval from the Planning Commission next week.

The plan culminates four years of work by city officials to open a local shooting gallery that police can use and residents will tolerate.

If approved, Shooters Paradise, an Oxnard-based company, will operate the 10,000-square-foot range and gun shop at 440 Easy St.

Company President George Rice said the former warehouse needs about $400,000 in modifications to meet the city’s strict sound and safety requirements.

Rice, who hopes to have the range up and running seven days a week by late December, said he expects the gallery to attract the same sort of patrons who frequent the Oxnard facility.

“We have everyone from the mayor of Oxnard to lawyers, doctors and Navy personnel,” Rice said. “No gangbangers. We have no tolerance for that.”

Michael Piper, a planning commissioner who formerly served on the City Council, said he welcomed the chance to bring a shooting range to Simi Valley.

“I know what grief we had in trying to find an outdoor site that would not be a detriment to the community,” he said. “So obviously a good indoor range that meets all the requirements would be the perfect solution.”

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City officials began trying to open a new gallery in 1990 after the only range in Simi Valley shut down at the former Corriganville Park.

After several proposals for outdoor sites were opposed by residents who did not want a shooting range in their neighborhoods, the city began seeking a contractor who would open an indoor range.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb, a member of the National Rifle Assn., pressed the city to find a business willing to open a gallery in the city, so that police officers would not have to travel out of town to practice.

“I wanted a place close to home for our officers,” she said. “It seems reasonable to me that a city of this size should have its own range.”

If the range is opened, the city expects to save an estimated $25,000 a year in overtime and travel costs that it pays to the department’s 110 officers to drive to ranges in Camarillo and Ventura. The city’s 1994-95 fiscal budget takes into account the savings a local range would bring.

Members of Neighborhood Council 1 recently gave the proposal unanimous support, saying they liked the fact that the range would be in a non-residential area in an existing building.

“A lot of people are buying guns now, and it’s better for them to have a place to practice,” Neighborhood Council President Mike Antoun said. “Also, it is not new construction; it is soundproofed and there’s nothing visible from the street.”

The City Council in February agreed to change its development code to allow the shooting gallery to operate at that site. Under city code, the Planning Commission must approve an additional special-use permit before the gun range can be installed. The commission will consider the matter Wednesday.

The city agreed to pay the range about $100,000 a year to provide shooting lanes for the Police Department, which will use the facility during off hours. The range will also be open to the public.