SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council approved the legalization of urban archery hunting on Tuesday, allowing for bow and crossbow hunting inside the city limits with strict regulations.

Assistant City Manager Kelly Baker presented the proposed ordinance to the council and said that it was crafted by administrative staff with the assistance of Police Chief Patrick Smith, City Attorney Graham Corriher and Public Works Director Chris Tester, an “expert hunter,” with the goal of allowing hunting while also ensuring “safety for citizens and surrounding property owners.”

As part of the process, Smith said he spoke with chiefs in nearby cities with legalized urban archery, including Mooresville, Albemarle, China Grove and Kannapolis, and asked about their laws and any issues.

“There’s been no issues with urban archery in those cities, no concerns from the chiefs,” said Smith.

The urban archery season, which is a program of and regulated by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, runs from Jan. 11 to Feb. 16 and allows for hunting deer with the city limits of Salisbury.

The approved ordinance includes safety regulations governing where, when and how the hunting can be conducted; which include:

• The hunter must own the property or have explicit written permission from the owner.
• The property must be greater than 10 acres in area.
• Discharge of the bow cannot occur within 500 feet of a school, church, any occupied building, street or road, park, recreation area or other public gathering place.

“There’s a lot of provisions that go into that, and I think that the criteria around the ordinance create a lot of protections for people,” said Baker.

She added that the ordinance was specifically modeled off of Concord’s ordinance, with the city’s density providing the best basis for a comparison.

After being asked by Council Member David Post who had requested the change, Baker said that it was specifically requested this time by one hunter, but that the hunter represented a larger group and it has been requested multiple times before.

After the discussion, the members of the city council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance.