Third delay stalls Goochland shooting sports facility hearing

A third delay has pushed a decision on Virginia Sports Park and Training Center at Goochland’s proposed shooting sports facility off Walton Road, leaving Goochland County residents near Three Chopt Road waiting. The nonprofit is seeking a conditional use permit for CU-2025-00012.

The proposal covers an approximately 85-acre portion of a larger 372.967-acre tract on Walton Road, about 0.4 miles north of Three Chopt Road, in an area zoned Agricultural, General, or A-1. Goochland’s comprehensive plan designates the site as a Rural Enhancement Area. The land is owned by Luck Stone and would be leased to the nonprofit applicant if the project advances.

The project is an 85-acre shooting and archery range with 14 to 16 clay shooting stations, one skeet station, one wobble stand, one 5-stand, indoor and outdoor archery areas, a clubhouse, a maintenance building and parking. The project is "youth-oriented" and proposes shooting hours from Tuesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to sunset, with Mondays reserved for morning tournaments.

Neighbors in the county’s west end have raised concerns about noise, property values, quality of life, lead in the environment, wetlands, traffic, security and the tournament schedule. County staff proposed 19 conditions for the project, including restrictions on shotguns and firing hours.

Goochland held a community meeting on Oct. 30, 2025, on an earlier version of the application, PRE-2024-00054, which described a skeet shooting range on about 75 acres of Walton Road, also about 0.4 miles north of Three Chopt Road. By Jan. 15, commissioners had already agreed 4-1 to defer a vote, and by March 19 the applicant had asked to push the hearing again, this time to the May 21 Planning Commission meeting.

Goochland County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Winfree is president of Virginia Sports Park and Training Center at Goochland, and he has said he will abstain when the matter reaches supervisors.