Pev's Paintball Park Threatened to be closed down

Not sure if this is old news, but I came across this. I think folks should go voice their opinions. lol.

Here's the story, the link is below that in case you want to post a comment on that blog site about it. Maybe Pev's can come in here and let us know how to help.

Paintball Park in the Crosshairs
County May Make it Harder for Similar Businesses to Come to Loudoun
By
Jason Jacks
Monday, 7 September 2009
Home / News

According to Robert Nester, the weekends are especially bad, as the ruckus across the creek “sounds like Vietnam,” he said, referring to the cacophony of war.


Paintball-Sign
“There ain’t no peace out here anymore,” he said of his 12 acres of rolling land along the Loudoun and Prince William county line. “We got to live here. But they don’t care because they get to go home at night.”

The source of Nester’s frustration is a paintball park a mere 100 yards from his back porch. Called Pev’s Paintball, the 48-acre park opened for business in June 2008 and has been plagued by complaints of traffic, trespassing and noise caused by paintball gun-toting thrill seekers. There are also concerns by some neighbors of shrinking property values and what effects, if any, digesting discarded paintballs has on animals.

Along with Nester, leading the charge against Pev’s is Aldie wildlife artist Diana Twining, who has been speaking out against the park since its plans surfaced in 2005. She recently asked Virginia game officials to test the remains of six starlings and a crow to see if they had died from ingesting paintballs. She said while the crow tested negative, paintball particulates were found in one starling. Final results on the other birds are still pending, she said.

“The facility appears to have become a toxic waste dump for paintballs. And if animals are dying, then yes, it can be stopped,” she said of hopes to have the park closed down.

Twining's concerns are not going unheard. Because of complaints, Mary Bathory Vidaver, a staff aide to Loudoun Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), said a proposal is in the works to place tougher restrictions on the opening of future paintball parks in Loudoun. Such a measure, though, would need approval from the Board of Supervisors.

The Pev’s company was founded in 1993 by paintball champion Mike “Pev” Peverill. The company has seven pro shops and one paintball park: the one in Aldie off Route 15. The park sits just north of the Prince William County line, and has a store, scores of paintball barriers and a faux-village equipped with 26 buildings each “with windows you can shoot from,” according to the Pev’s Web site.

Peverill said neighbors' complaints about the park are nothing new.

He bought the property in 2005 mainly because zoning already allowed for a paintball park there. However, upon learning of his plans, he said neighbors immediately began voicing their worries to county officials about opening such a business in rural Loudoun.

In response, he said, county inspectors came out and thoroughly scoured his property. They eventually deemed his business safe, but not until he spent an additional $250,000 on permits. He said the process delayed his park’s opening by 18 months.

On his paintballs, he said, they’re filled with food dye and vegetable oil and pose no risk to animals or waterways. “You can eat them,” he said.

On accusations of trespassing, he said, it happened only once. Soon after opening, he said, one customer accidentally wandered onto unmarked neighbor’s property.

“He didn’t have a no trespassing sign up at the time,” he recalled, before accusing the same neighbor of using his park for late-night parties.

Paintball-Neighbors
Robert Nestor and Diana Twining look towards the source of their frustration: a paintball park.
He added: “Obviously, there are people who don’t want us here, and they have never wanted us here.”

One of those people is Twining, who lives in a restored farm house on 100 acres near Pev’s.

“Paintball doesn't belong in rural Loudoun," she proclaimed from her office, which is adorned with sculptures and photographs of wildlife. "It should be at an industrial park."

Besides endangering animals, she also believes paintballs from Pev’s are winding up in nearby Bull Run and possibly contaminating local drinking water.

“I don’t care if he says they are filled with vegetable oil, would you want this in your water?” she said, holding up a pink paintball. “This can’t be good for the environment.”

Her plans now are to continue to urge the county to monitor Pev’s. She intends to speak in front of the board Sept. 15 about not permitting more paintball parks in rural Loudoun.

For Nester, he wants Pev’s to plant more tall trees along their shared property line so he doesn’t have to witness the battles waged daily behind his home.

Still, such a change wouldn't keep the sound of gunplay at bay. “The noise is what gets to me," he said. "Some days there are 60 or 70 of them over there hollerin and hootin.”

He does have another plan, though. “Maybe I should point some speakers in their direction and play opera music,” he said without smiling. “I’m serious. Watch me.”


http://www.loudouni.com/news/2009-09...ark-crosshairs