"During warmer months, Lee Shiflett enjoys poolside entertaining and barbecues at his home in the Walnut Woods subdivision in Louisa County.

However, Shiflett is worried that his future weekend events will be punctuated by more than laughter and the sizzle of food on the grill.

“I’m a few hundred yards from Chalk Level Road,” Shiflett said. “I don’t want to have friends here on Saturday afternoon and hear ‘boom!’”

Shiflett doesn’t live far from the site of what could become a military training facility. The Cincinnati-based O’Gara Group has a contract to purchase more than 1,000 acres along Route 22 between Chalk Level Road (Route 625) and Chopping Road (Route 623) from William A. Cooke Inc. As O’Gara prepares its conditional-use permit application for the site, some people are wondering how the facility could affect the noise level and safety in the area.

Dave Dolan, who heads up the O’Gara Safety and Security Institute, said the proposed Louisa facility would include classrooms and offices, shooting ranges, driving courses, and lodging and dining for the facility’s visitors. Dolan said the permit is required for the shooting ranges and small arms instruction that would take place at the training center.

O’Gara’s training center is located on 1,200 acres inside the Virginia International Raceway Complex in Alton, which is east of Danville. The company holds training there for military purposes, national incident management, private security and first responders.

Dolan said the company isn’t able to expand at that site, so O’Gara started looking for land for a new primary facility in June.

About 800 acres of the site along Route 22 was rezoned two years ago to be an industrial rail park. Randall Tingler, president of William A. Cooke, said about 12 companies visited the site before choosing other locations.

Tingler said O’Gara approached the group in October about the land. William A. Cooke and the William A. Cooke Trust own the land; the ultimate benefactor is the William A. Cooke Foundation, which gives scholarships and grants to help people in Louisa and Orange counties.

Cooke himself was the owner of some parts of the site; Tingler said the group bought more portions of land as the years passed. Tingler declined to say how much O’Gara would pay for the site.

O’Gara had been looking for a site between the Alton facility and Washington. Dolan said his facility draws people from all over the country, but most often visitors come from the D.C. area.

Dolan said only 4 percent of the wooded site would be disturbed by the training facility.

“The environmental impact of a shooting range is dirt,” Dolan said. “It doesn’t take long to put up buildings. It can probably be done in several months.”

If everything goes to plan, Dolan said he thinks the center could open this year.

Impact on the region

Steve Huffman’s house is about three miles from the high school, but the Walnut Woods homeowner said he can keep track of how many touchdowns Louisa gets during football games without attending them.

“That’s not a problem,” Huffman said. “It’s five nights out of the year. But I can sit in my den and hear the fireworks from the street. What is this artillery thing going to be like if it’s down the street?”

Dolan said the shooting ranges would be baffled, which would reduce the sound of firing shots by about 75 percent. The facility also would be gated to prevent passersby from accidentally crossing into the complex, and the property would have a 300-foot buffer between the property line and the campus.

According to the county, there are about 1,050 homes, 10 churches and 70 businesses within a two-mile radius of the proposed training facility. Louisa County High School and Louisa County Middle School are about a mile away from the site.

The School Board hasn’t taken a position on the proposal, said Hal Schaffer, chairman of the board, but Schaffer has his own opinions.

“I honestly don’t think there is going to be a safety problem,” he said. “I think it’s going to be disconcerting for the people who live around there, but on the other hand, it is zoned light industrial.”

Schaffer said other tenants wouldn’t necessarily be better for the site; more truck traffic coming from an industrial facility would impact the flow outside of the schools. As for stray bullets, Schaffer said he doesn’t think they could reach school grounds.

If the facility is built, Dolan said area residents likely would see visitors come in and out. Class sizes can be as large as 100 people, and they would need to leave the facility to get supplies.

“They all gotta buy toothpaste and they will need amenities,” Dolan said.

Dolan said he would do some local hiring to fill the 20 positions needed to run the facility at first, but could expand to 50 employees in the first year.

What’s next

O’Gara plans to submit the permit application this month. Dolan said there are some issues with wetlands on the property that will need to be discussed before things moved forward.

During that process, there will be at least another meeting where residents can voice their opinions and ask O’Gara questions. That meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet. Residents were able to share their opinions during a preliminary neighborhood meeting in mid-February.

According to the county’s Web site, the permit process can take 90 to 120 days." (Tasha Kates, The Daily Progress, March 8, 2008)