Delray Beach’s planning and zoning board has rejected a proposal to allow an indoor gun range in the Wallace Drive Overlay District, but the measure will still advance to the city commission for consideration.
Wallace Drive LLC owns an 18,400-square-foot flex office warehouse at 1215 Wallace Drive and is seeking approval for an ordinance that would permit indoor gun ranges in this industrial area. The site, built in 1983 on 1.8 acres, is adjacent to a senior housing community and a church, and sits approximately 1,000 feet from Pine Grove Elementary School.
During Monday evening’s meeting, four out of seven board members voted against the proposal. Neil Schiller, attorney for Wallace Drive LLC, explained that the plan would allow private members and Delray Beach police officers to use the facility for firearms training.
The proposed legislation could also open up similar opportunities for owners of 12 other parcels within the district—which includes storage spaces, warehouses, single-family homes, and vacant parcels—to pursue their own plans for gun ranges. These facilities would be subject to requirements such as 24-hour security, adherence to National Rifle Association safety standards, compliance with noise regulations, and prohibition of alcohol sales on-site.
Board member Mitch Katz highlighted that while minimum distance requirements exist for vape shops near sensitive areas like schools or homes in Palm Beach County municipalities, such provisions were not included in this proposal. “But gun ranges? Well, we can just put them across the street from a school,” he said during deliberations. Schiller responded by noting that his client’s building is at least 1,000 feet away from Pine Grove Elementary School.
Board member Dedrick Straghn voiced concerns about placing a private gun range near a church and senior residential community: “This doesn’t smell right to me.” He also noted that another facility—the Delray Shooting Center—already operates less than half a mile away in another mixed-use district where gun ranges are permitted.
Attorney Mark Grafton stated that if approved, the proposed range would be state-of-the-art and serve police training needs such as low-light shooting scenarios and door breaching exercises.
Planning board chairman Gregory Snyder suggested adding regulations requiring any future gun range to be at least 500 feet from schools, parks or churches and restricting noise levels beyond property lines. However, only three members supported these amendments; four voted against moving forward with recommendations.
Wallace Drive LLC is managed by Delia Lalchan. The company purchased the property earlier this year for $5.8 million from Aram LLC.
The location is about one-and-a-half miles from Kolter Group’s planned Alton Delray development—a project slated to deliver hundreds of new apartments under Florida’s Live Local Act—and less than two miles from Aura Delray Beach apartments recently acquired by Related Companies for nearly $117 million.
