Magnuson Park's Archery Range Should Be Moved, Says Park Board

The Magnuson Park archery range should be moved to a new location away from homes and playing fields, the Board of Parks Commissioners has recommended.

The board yesterday asked the Park Department's staff to spend six months looking for a better location or, considering a proposal by the Seattle Archery Federation (SAFE), devise a plan for safe operation of the range.

The federation wants to take over operation of the range, certifying archers and fencing the area.

The range was closed in October after several arrows struck homes or other nearby buildings earlier last year. It should remain closed during the study, the board recommended in a unanimous vote.

Board members meeting at the Miller Community Center yesterday morning said they were convinced the errant arrows did not come from the range but, nevertheless, were believed to be related to its location at Magnuson Park because there is no evidence of similar problems in other neighborhoods.

In 1985, the range was moved from Carkeek Park because of community complaints about wild arrows.

Last summer, similar complaints reached a crescendo in the Windermere neighborhood next to Magnuson Park; 500 people signed a petition asking the Park Department to close the archery range.

Disagreeing with the board's opinion, Caroline Miner believes the arrow still stuck in the siding of her home on Northeast 61st Street came from the range.

Miner and Eugene Corr, another resident of Northeast 61st, were disappointed the Parks Board did not recommend closing the archery range permanently right now.

``Close it or enclose it,'' said Corr after the vote, referring to proposals to locate the range inside a building - possibly a former airplane hangar if the Navy gives up any more land at Sand Point.

``The overriding concern here is public safety,'' said Corr. ``Shooting a missile'' is illegal anywhere else in the city, he added.

Representatives of archery groups were disappointed about the continued closure of the range but encouraged by the board's recommendation to keep archery alive as a parks program.

``It's a positive thing,'' said Susan Yule, local representative of the International Federation of Target Archers.

``This board is strongly in favor of this sport,'' but the wildly shot arrows have raised troublesome concerns about public safety that have to be solved, said Karen Morgan, Park Board chairwoman.

The department has so far looked without success for an alternative site, but Morgan held out hope that something might turn up through a comprehensive planning process now under way.

Voting in favor of the six-month study were Park Board members John Hancock, Puni Hokea, Mason Mitchell, Morgan and Harvey Poll. Beckey Sukovaty and Todd True missed the meeting.

With the Magnuson Park range closed, archers must pay at private ranges in suburbs such as Kenmore, according to Savage Frieze of SAFE.