In a room packed with grumbling neighbors, Rochester’s Zoning Board of Appeals on December 11 approved a Special Permit to allow firearms and tactical training range at 0 County Road.
The 2.3 acres there is currently the site of the “Fox Den” firearms training facility owned by Steve Morrell, who is selling the property to John Vasvalekis. Morrell told the board the site’s use will not change. It will continue to be used as an outdoor firearms and tactical training facility for local, state, and federal law enforcement, military personnel, and the general public. “It will continue to serve the community and help people be more capable,” Vasvalekis added.
The push back against this plan started when ZBA Chair Donald Spirlet read aloud the letter from the association president of nearby Connet Woods and former ZBA Chair David Arancio. The letter urged the applicant to have strong communication with abutters and neighbors and to do something about the current operation’s concentration of noisy night activities.
From there, neighbors in attendance focused their complaints similarly on the noise that they said the current operation generates. Dennis Santora said he was not a direct abutter but an abutter of the noise. He asked if sound barriers could be added and whether there could be groundwater testing for the lead contamination that could come from spent bullet shells. A resident of 49 High Street complained there is nothing to buffer the operation’s noise because of the low-lying cranberry bogs in the area. Referring to the 8:00 am to 8:00 pm hours of operation on the original permit, he said, “there ought to be more restrictions on the times of operation and the caliber of guns they can use. There’s no down time for the residents with these hours.”
Spirlet noted that sometimes the gunfire noise in that area comes from other residents who are not affiliated with the “Fox Den” operation, firing their own weapons as target practice. Morrell offered that he notifies the police chief of large training groups and has a website for posting his schedule.
Ultimately, the board granted the permit with conditions that include cutting the hours of operation that were within the original permit down to 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday through Saturday; Sunday hours 12:00 pm noon to 6:00 pm. The permit allows occasional night training that must end by 8:00 pm and must be approved by the police chief. The permit mandates that no caliber higher than 468 be used. Vasvalekis must post the night training schedule on his company website to keep residents better informed.
The meeting began with the board accepting a bid from applicant Sandra Jones to withdraw without prejudice her frontage-requirement variance petition for a new two-family home at 309 Neck Road. The board continued this hearing from its November meeting after Building Commissioner Paul Boucher noted that a variance of such frontage requirements should not be allowed. Spirlet announced on December 11 that Town Counsel agreed with Boucher’s point of view. Jones said she has already filed a Special Permit petition for the plan, the preferred route to seek board approval.
Lastly, the board approved two side-setback variances to allow a 16×22 addition to the garage at 194 Burgess Avenue.
The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals
By Michael J. DeCicco