SAYBROOK - A gun range on the outskirts of Saybrook may wind up at the center of a showdown on the Village Board. Board member Ross Reardon wants the Saybrook Gun Club silenced. Shooting often begins early in the day seven days a week and continues until 9 at night, he said.

He knows because he and his wife live within about 600 feet of the site.

"It's too annoying, it is too close to the village," he said. "The noise affects the whole town."

But Reardon said he may not have the political ammunition to force a ceasefire. Fellow village board member James Quinn is range officer of the Saybrook Sportsman's Club, which operates the range.

"I have a picture of me shooting there when I was in junior high school," said Quinn, who is now retired. "If he (Reardon) didn't like living next to the gun club, he shouldn't have moved to Saybrook - like people who don't like airplane noise shouldn't move next to airports."

Quinn said the club is primarily a trap range, but hunting guns and handguns also are fired there. Shooting generally doesn't start until 9 a.m.

"It takes us a while to get enough coffee to get down there," he said, agreeing that some events may not end until 9 p.m.

Currently, the range, which encompasses about four acres, is not under the village board's jurisdiction. Rather, the local problem revolves around a larger McLean County zoning issue, said Phil Dick, director of the county's department of building and zoning.

The gun range was operating when the County Board passed a zoning ordinance in the 1960s. The ordinance classified land surrounding towns as residential to give villages room to grow. Non-compliant uses, such as the gun club, were grandfathered so they could continue operating.

Five years ago, the County Board set Dec. 31, 2007 as a deadline for non-compliant users to apply for the proper zoning and special use permits, Dick said. The sportsman's club never did, and it was not alone. Dick said "several" non-compliant uses continue, ranging from improper signage to light manufacturing operations and businesses.

Quinn said the club was unaware of the zoning problem until mid-summer. That was after Reardon called sheriff's deputies when someone began shooting about 10:30 p.m. one night. A deputy talked to the shooter, and he left, but he returned and began shooting again about 2 a.m. Reardon said the gunfire stopped after he called sheriff's police a second time.

"That's what triggered the whole thing," Reardon said.

The club quickly ousted the offender, who was a new member, Quinn said.

"There were years we had only two rules: don't do anything stupid and clean up your mess," Quinn said. "It never occurred to me to tell him, 'And, don't shoot at 1:30 in the morning.' "

After the late-night episode, Reardon began looking for ways to quell the gunfire. He eventually went to Dick, who sent Quinn a letter stating the club must ask the County Board of Zoning Appeals to rezone the property as a general manufacturing district and seek a special use permit.

The process will require a site plan, explanations on how it functions and what events are held there. Dick said safety issues might require new or improved backstops. Quinn agreed.

As an alternative to seeking re-zoning, Dick suggested the club ask to be annexed to Saybrook because the site is contiguous to the village. More controls could be put on the range at that time, he said. Both Quinn and Reardon expect annexation to be on the agenda for the Village Board's monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.

Reardon said he'll oppose the measure because of the noise, no matter what. Restrictions on days or hours of operation would not help, he said.

Quinn, who said he will not vote to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, hopes a compromise can be worked out. But he isn't hopeful.

"We are willing to work with just about anybody…but he and I are 180 degrees apart," said Quinn. "He's set in ways and so am I."