DISCOVERY BAY — Practice gunfire resounded again Tuesday around this placid body of water dotted with quiet shoreline communities.
The gunfire came as Security Services Northwest’s president met with Jefferson County’s chief planner to work through community concerns and land-use issues.
“I think that our primary goal is to be good neighbors to the people we have out here and provide as much mitigation as possible so that we can both exist out here,” Joe D’Amico said Tuesday after meeting with Al Scalf, county director of Community Development.
“I felt my meeting with Al was very productive today,” said D’Amico, who in the past two weeks has come under fire from Discovery Bay residents.
They object to high-powered automatic and semi-automatic gunfire coming from the Fort Discovery site on the western shores of the bay.
Complaints widespread
From Gardiner to Adelma Beach to Discovery Bay Golf Club — even Chimacum — residents have registered noise complaints with county zoning officials.
Security Services Northwest during the past two years has added anti-terrorism training to its security guard and dog training operations.
Peninsula Daily News received additional calls Tuesday from residents who heard the resumption of early-morning gunfire.
“We do some sort of shooting, firearms training, every week,” D’Amico said.
“We do both firing and non-firing training.”
Mitigation efforts promised
D’Amico said he has talked to neighbors around the bay “one on one” and hopes to mitigate noise levels by building walls and baffles around the shooting practice ranges on the more than 3,000 acre site the company leases from Discovery Bay Land Co., also known as the Gunstone compound.