This aerial photograph from Sept. 5, 2015, shows 1021 East 31st St., one of two possible locations for a proposed shooting range and gun shop.

If there is going to be a gun range in Lawrence, it makes more sense for it to be in an industrial area near 31st and Haskell than in a shopping mall near 23rd and Louisiana, a new city report has found.

The Lawrence Douglas-County Planning Commission will look Monday at those two possible locations for a proposed shooting range and gun shop, the plans for which have been contested because of their proximity to Lawrence schools.

The planning commission will make a recommendation to the City Commission on Monday about whether the shooting range should be allowed to locate off 31st Street, near the Lawrence College and Career Center. If the city ends up denying the request for that location, the Lawrence businessman behind the idea plans to locate in a second site in a high-density, high-activity area near three schools — a location that doesn’t need approval from either the planning or city commissions.

City planning staff is recommending the planning commission recommend approval of the site at 1021 East 31st St., a plan it has already rejected once. The alternative location, in The Malls shopping center near 23rd and Louisiana streets, has already been administratively approved. That location didn’t need City Commission approval because it’s already zoned to allow for a shooting range.

“Schools exist at both locations, but with varying degrees of activity and potential conflicts and poor results if a shooting occurs,” a city memo from planning staff states. “Given the possible harms, the 31st Street location presents a site of much less activity given it is designed to accommodate a narrow degree of users.”

The planning commission voted 4-2 in November to recommend denial of the 31st Street plan. The vote was taken after the Lawrence Board of Education came out in opposition to the gun range because of its concern for the safety of students and staff at the College and Career Center.

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When the issue went to the City Commission in January, Rick Sells, the businessman proposing the gun range, told commissioners he had submitted a site plan for The Malls location. Though none of the commissioners were favorable toward a gun range on 31st Street, they voted unanimously to send the issue back to the planning commission to do a comparative analysis of the two sites.

An analysis from city staff shows there are more pedestrians and bicyclists near The Malls location. It’s more dense than the site off 31st Street, and it’s surrounded by other retail and dining, whereas the 31st Street spot would be next to light industrial buildings. While the 31st Street location is not in a neighborhood, The Malls is near three.

Much of the discussion about the gun range has centered on a federal law, the Gun Free School Zone Act, which prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school.

Though the shooting range would be an exception to the law because it allows possession and firing of a gun on private property, the school district and some commissioners said it was important to consider.

The law would require that those using the public street outside the shooting range have their firearm locked in a container.

According to the comparative analysis, the 31st Street location is about 760 feet from the College and Career Center at 2910 Haskell Ave. The Malls site is 300 feet from the Lawrence High School baseball field, 740 feet from Centennial School, 1,300 feet from LHS and 1,730 feet from Broken Arrow Elementary.

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The conversation about Sells’ gun range proposal caused the closure last week of the gun range in the basement of the Lawrence Community Building.

City attorneys told the Douglas County Rifle & Pistol Club, which leased the space and operated the gun range, to stop all activity last week after the gun range was deemed a violation of the Gun Free School Zones Act.

Because the gun range is on public property, it’s not exempt under the federal law. It is located at 115 W. 11th St., within 1,000 feet from St. John’s School, at 1208 Kentucky St.

Sells brought up the Community Building gun range when speaking to city commissioners in January. He said it was a “pet peeve” that his proposal was facing denial because of a law that range was breaking.

“Everybody in town against this, what they don’t realize is there’s a gun range in the basement of the community building,” he said.

After the planning commission makes a recommendation Monday, the issue will go back before the City Commission for a final decision.

The planning commission meets at 6:30 p.m. in the City Commission meeting room at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.