By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - The Butler County Board of Zoning Appeals will make a decision on Feb. 18 in a dispute between a commercial bird-shooting operation in Milford Township and a family living next to it

Ridgewind Quail Hunt opened in 2001 on a 160-acre tract in a rural area. Hunters fire lead pellets at quail, pheasants and partridge-like birds called chukars. Mike and Cara Loriz, who have lived on 45 acres next to the preserve for seven years, say the shotguns are a noise nuisance and pose a safety hazard.

Ridgewind Quail Hunt owners dispute those allegations. They say the hunters fire their guns far enough away from the Loriz property that noise and safety are not issues.

The Loriz family presented their case at a five-hour special meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday.

Witness for the Loriz family - including an appraiser, a Hamilton police officer who discussed ballistics, a neighbor and Cara Loriz - testified during the meeting. Ridgewind presented a seven-minute tape addressing the decibel level of the hunters' shots.

The Board of Zoning Appeals will decide on Feb. 18 whether the county erred in issuing the operating permit for the bird-shooting preserve. The meeting will occur begin at 7 p.m. in a fourth-floor conference room at the Butler County Administration Building, 345 High St., Hamilton.

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com