City moves ahead on gun range project
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Old Cotulla Landfill targeted as practice site for TDCJ, other agencies
Cotulla city councilors have given the green light to a partnership with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for construction of a gun range at the former municipal landfill on the southeastern outskirts of the community.
Located beside FM 624 and close to the state’s Cotulla Unit prison, the gun range may be used by officers from the detention facility as well as law enforcement agencies in the area for practice with a variety of firearms.
Construction, however, has been delayed due to the nature of the property, according to City Hall.
“The landfill closed several years ago,” City Administrator Larry Dovalina said at a council meeting Thursday, September 8. “The city has an agreement with TDCJ to build a gun range, but we have to hire engineers.”
The project includes a shooting stand or pavilion and an earth berm against which targets may be placed.
“You can’t just build a gun range on an old landfill, because methane gases escaping from it can explode,” Dovalina told the council. “We need permission to build the berm and the shooting positions, and then TDCJ comes in with its design and builds it.”
Approval to proceed and to launch the engineering study for the project came on a vote by Councilor Eloy Zertuche, seconded by Councilor Gilbert Ayala and supported unanimously. Councilor Alejandro Garcia Jr. was absent from the meeting.
Councilor Ayala said after the meeting that he believes a gun range at Cotulla will be in high demand among both the state prison authorities and local law enforcement, as the only practice ranges in or around La Salle County are on private property.