The tab for taxpayers for the San Diego Police Department’s gun range continues to grow seven months after the site was shut down over lead exposure concerns. An NBC 7 Investigates analysis of the spending puts the total at more than $12 million, and the tab is still running.
In 2019, the city embarked on a multi-million-dollar renovation of the outdoor range, spending $11.6 million so far. During that renovation, city officials opted not to install a $184,000 dust collection unit as part of a new mechanical bullet trap. That dust collection device uses negative pressure to pull dust and toxins toward the back of the trap where it enters a filtering system.
The range operated that way for about a year until more than a dozen officers started feeling sick and reported testing positive for lead in their blood. It’s at that point, in mid-May, that the city shut the range down. At the time, the city told us it intended to install the dust collection unit and resume operations, but now says it has no intention of reopening the range.
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Since the closure, the city has paid about $398,295 in lead clean-up costs, $51,000 to hire an environmental consultant, and now spends $351,000 per year to train its officers at a range in Poway. The city’s contract with the Poway facility can potentially run up to $1.7 million should SDPD officers continue to rely on the space over the next five years.
A city spokesperson addressed the spending as a result of its decision not to purchase the dust collection unit, writing:
“The City followed manufacturer instructions during the process of purchasing and then installing the bullet trap system last year. The lead-dust collector was optional and it was not known at the time in 2019 that not installing the dust collector would create lead-exposure risk. When the lead exposure was identified, the City immediately halted range operations and worked to address the situation responsibly.”
Through a public records request, NBC 7 discovered that in July of 2021, city officials discussed the exclusion of the dust collection unit and potential consequences during the renovation.
In one email, an employee wrote in part:
"As one of our violations was related to lead dust, incorporating these devices into the next phases would seem to be a priority. It is my understanding that including one of these devices was decided against during the last design phase. Having received violations in February of 2020, I am having a hard time understanding the logic in that decision."
When asked about how much the city has spent since the range was shut down, a city spokesperson replied:
“Public safety is the City’s priority and our teams are following the guidance of regulatory agencies as it relates to the clean-up and remediation at the gun range. The City has an obligation to do proper due diligence in also determining the potential exposure caused by lead dust at the range. At the same time, it is crucial that our police officers remain current and active in their firearms training, as is required by law.”
The future of the outdoor firing range isn’t clear, but taxpayers will certainly bear the brunt of the decision.
The range has been a fixture of the Fairmount Park neighborhood since the 1930s. Prior to its ownership by the city, the range was owned and operated by the San Diego Police Revolver Club. In 1936, the club signed over the 5-acre property to the city for the bargain price of $1. There was only one condition, that the city always operate a police gun range on the land. If for whatever reason the city stopped doing so, the land would revert to the revolver club.
“I’ve tried to contact the city attorney on several occasions and I've got no response,” club president Jerry Van Wey told NBC 7 Investigates.
Van Wey says he wants to regain control of the range and resume operations for civilian use. He says the club would do whatever’s necessary to make the shooting there safe, including installing a dust collection unit or converting it into an indoor range. But he says his efforts to speak with city officials have been fruitless.
It’s worth noting that a number of people are rooting for another outcome.
Over the last year, NBC 7 Investigates has heard from neighbors who’ve been pleased with the eight-month relief from the sound of gunshots. That includes Pastor Dale Huntington with the City Life Church in Mount Hope.
“Who has an outdoor gun range right in the middle of a city of concern?” Huntington asked in a sit-down interview. “It creates fear and trauma in kids in our community and it has for decades.”
Huntington isn’t the first to question whether an outdoor range still makes sense in such a residential area. New development crept up and surrounded the range over the last 90 years. Residents tell NBC 7 Investigates, they can hear the sound of gunfire as far as Mount Hope, Mountain View and Chollas View.
After an NBC 7 Investigates update on the range that aired in November 2022, San Diego Unified School Board President Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne told NBC 7 that Mayor Todd Gloria called her the night of the broadcast. Whitehurst-Payne relayed a conversation in which she says the mayor told her not only would the city not reopen the gun range, it would allow the community input on what to do with the 5-acre land it occupies.
However, how the city would be able to circumvent the deed remains a mystery. A Gloria spokesperson did send us this statement, which says in part, “at this juncture, the city is still investigating the status of the revolver club’s trustees and how reversion of the title to that entity might take shape.”
Gloria has denied our repeated requests for an interview about the range for nearly eight months, including this month when we reached out to his office to talk about how much money has been spent on the range.
NBC 7 Investigates also reached out to City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera’s office, whose district encompasses the range and Mount Hope. His office provided this statement:
"It’s unfortunate that so much money was used by the former administration to renovate a shooting range that was traumatizing surrounding neighborhoods with the near-constant sound of gunfire every day of the week. The current peace experienced by the residents has been life changing."
City leaders have now sent some residents at least three letters about the shutdown of the range. One of those letters sent in September received negative reception from some neighbors who told NBC 7 Investigates it delivered more confusion than information. The letter didn’t discuss possible lead exposure to the community and instead focused on other ways people can be exposed to lead, including hazards found in older homes.
More Coverage on the Shutdown of the Police Gun Range
Most recently, the city mailed out a letter this month that acknowledged it was taking the potential exposure seriously and that it was working with regulatory agencies like the San Diego Air Pollution Control District and County Public Health Services to determine what steps it should take. The letter marks a change in tone for the administration which just two months ago challenged the notion the community may have been exposed to any lead dust beyond the range at all.
The mayor’s office also says the city disagrees with the district’s risk assessment, telling us: “The City’s environmental experts have cast doubt on the validity of the HRA, because it’s based on a single sample that was run through what appears to be a faulty model to determine health risks to the community. Additional testing is necessary to properly evaluate these risks, and we are advocating for this additional examination to create a scientifically valid assessment of any health risks to residents. The sample size and modeling were insufficient to make this finding, and we therefore would like to independently verify the findings with a more scientifically rigorous method.”
The city and the Air Pollution Control District are now in the process of working out a settlement over the potential community exposure. That could include monetary fines. A city spokesperson addressed that ongoing process:
“The City is still in discussions with the APCD and the County of San Diego on potential exposure to the community. As you may be aware, the APCD recently informed the City about a glitch in their analysis and has issued an updated Health Risk Assessment. The City is committed to continuing its work with the APCD and the County of San Diego to ensure the best data is used to appropriately evaluate risks and determine what is best for the community.”
The APCD acknowledged to NBC 7 Investigates that it identified a glitch in the modeling that was used on its first Health Risk Assessment. It says its newest report corrected the glitch, but still puts the risk to the community above regulatory standards, calling the potential health risk significant.
NBC 7 Investigates spoke with multiple experts with extensive backgrounds in toxicology and environmental sciences who say even small amounts of lead exposure increase rates of brain damage and attention deficit disorders in children, even in unborn children.
Pastor Huntington would like to see the kind of money that was spent on the range directed toward Mount Hope.
“You spend money on the very thing that's intimidating our community,” Huntington told us. “It’s so not reading the room. It’s so, to me at times, arrogant. And it’s hurtful to this community.”
Huntington says an example of that spending is on display less than 2,000 feet away from the range, at Dennis V. Allen Park. The playground equipment burned down a year ago. The city has yet to replace it.
“I think people look at our community and they see gangs,” Huntington said. “And they see drug dealers. And they see addiction. And they see poverty. And they don’t think those are a creation of our city.”
Unlike many city neighborhoods, Mount Hope doesn’t have a recreation center. So it’s even harder for Huntington to understand how the city spent millions on a gun range less than a half-mile away that it isn’t using.
“The city talks a good equity game,” Huntington told us. “The city talks a good compassion game but has no intention of actually making changes. We've received promises and excuses and I just don’t think any other community would be treated this way.”
In response to NBC 7’s interview with Pastor Huntington, a city spokesperson says the city plans to replace the playground and bring a recreation center to the Mount Hope Community, writing:
“Parks and Recreation Department has purchased the playground equipment and the manufacturer is currently working on the custom-made parts. Installation is expected to occur in spring 2023. The larger project that includes Mount Hope Recreation Center was added to the City’s capital improvement program in FY23 and is funded. Parks and Recreation will transfer the project to the Engineering and Capital Projects Department for the preliminary engineering work and to gather public input.”
