League City gives preliminary OK to rezone gun range

League City officials have given preliminary approval to change the zoning designation for the Clear Creek Gun Range from single-family residential to general commercial.
But the lone council member to vote against the proposal argues that issuing a special-use permit to allow the range to continue operating would be better than rezoning the property to a much-less restrictive category.
Why go from our most restrictive to our least restrictive zoning designation?" that member, Neil Baron, said after Tuesday's 6-1 vote. A (special-use permit) would allow the gun range to still operate without exposing the neighbors and the rest of the community to rezoned general commercial that we have no idea what its future usage is going to be."
The gun range is on 80 acres near FM 1266 and Texas 96 and is owned by Ernie Randall, the father-in-law of Mayor Toni Randall. The potential change was requested by Ernie Randall and must still be approved a second time by City Council to go in to effect, said LaShondra Holmes, the city's planning manager.
The proposal requires support from three-fourths of the council because Sam Boyd, owner of property adjacent to the gun range, has protested the switch, she said.
In 2005, the range's zoning designation was changed from office commercial to single-family residential as part of a citywide rezoning while Ernie Randall was on vacation in Alaska.
Then-Mayor Jerry Shults at one point met with other city leaders and Boyd to discuss declaring the gun range a public nuisance, according to city legal invoices.
Messages left for Ernie Randall on Wednesday morning were not returned. Toni Randall said he left Wednesday morning and would not return until Sunday night.
Baron said he voted against the rezoning because he doesn't believe all of its legal requirements were addressed by city staff and the city's Planning and Zoning Commission. He also questioned the need for rezoning the gun range with the city currently in the midst of redoing its comprehensive plan.
Baron said it's his understanding that Randall's rezoning request was made so that the gun range can continue to operate.