Healdsburg officials contemplating way out for proposed downtown firearms shop

Downtown Healdsburg - famously dominated by wine-tasting rooms, high-end hotels and restaurants - soon may have a gun shop and training center in the mix, as well.

Or maybe not.

A Windsor man’s plan to convert a vacant building one block off the Healdsburg Plaza for that purpose has the City Council contemplating actions that would prevent him or any other firearms retailer from opening in the town center.

City planners announced last week they expect to recommend that city officials consider a new ordinance limiting the areas where guns can be sold and requiring a conditional-use permit for firearms retailers. They also may ask at the City Council’s regular Jan. 22 meeting to extend a 45-day emergency moratorium on new gun shops for another 101/2 months, so the issue can be resolved.

It’s a shock to general contractor Scott Gabaldon, who, until about five weeks ago, had the all-clear from city staff to get a business license and proceed with a lease for a former 11,000-square-foot real estate office squeezed between the Raven Theater and the Toy Chest at North and Center streets.

The zoning code explicitly permits “gunsmith shops, sales and repair” in the central business district. The city has no other regulations on gun sales, other than they can’t be sold out of homes.

Gabaldon would be the first firearms dealer in the city, planning staff said.

But he doesn’t just want to sell guns and ammunition. Already a pistol instructor, Gabaldon wants to offer education, safety courses, simulator training and other services that would enhance understanding for the proper use of firearms and the necessary respect for their deadly power.

“In the old days, kids were taught this, and they were taught respect for guns,” said Gabaldon, 48. “And they were taught respect for life, because guns can kill.”

But city officials who caught wind of his proposal brought it to the City Council last month, suggesting it declare a 45-day, emergency moratorium on new gun shops and take time to decide if it wants to restrict locations in the city where such operations would exist.

“I understand that this is a right, and it’s a fundamental right,” then-Mayor Shaun McCaffery, now a councilman, said during a Dec. 18 hearing on the matter. “But at the same time, I think that our staff and our city deserve the time, 45 days, to consider what to do and come back to us with recommendations on how do we address the zoning implications, things like that.”

Gabaldon, a longtime general contractor raised in Healdsburg, said he’s been looking since early last year for the right site to fulfill his vision of a firearms emporium and training establishment catering to hunters, target shooters, adults interested in personal safety, kids with their first BB guns and law enforcement.

He said state and federal regulations on firearms retailers are extensive, touching on everything from background checks for store owners and employees to locked overnight storage of weapons and ammunition, to how guns must be displayed so they are out of sight from passers-by.

But council members, who voted Dec. 18 to approve an urgency ordinance declaring a 45-day hold on new standalone firearm shops, said they and the public need to consider potential concerns, ranging from commercial fit and aesthetics to whether criminal conduct in the area could increase as a result.

“This has never come up” before, said newly installed Mayor Brigette Mansell.

The topic of gun ownership and sales is clearly “a sensitive issue,” she said, particularly with the toy store and performing arts center nearby.

City planners also highlighted the existence of local land-use standards for service stations, neighborhood retail stores, bars and tasting rooms, adult businesses, cannabis cultivation and telecommunication facilities. Meanwhile, there are no specific standards for the sale of firearms.?“It’s going to be better for everybody” if there’s time for in-depth discussion, McCaffery said.

Mansell said the challenge will be to balance Gabaldon’s rights with the interests of the public, and ensure “going forward we have language that mirrors what our values are.”

Commercial real estate agent Nick Abbott said the North Street site, available for lease or sale, has attracted the interest of other potential occupants. He said city codes are “very black and white” about permitting Gabaldon’s use, specifically naming gun retail as an authorized use.

Gabaldon is frustrated that he inquired about the matter with the city planning staff three different times, including going back out to his truck for a moment on one occasion and thinking, “There’s got to be more to this.”

When he went back in to make sure there wasn’t a hitch, he said he was treated with annoyance that he would second-guess what he had been told the first time.

“Then it turned into this big mess,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.