It's a classic problem in growing suburban communities: People move to the peace and quiet of the countryside only to find that many longtime residents there enjoy hunting and shooting for sport.

"It sure surprised me when I first moved in," South Fayette Commissioner Cindy Cox said. She said she has neighbors who shoot regularly in a hollow behind her Sygan Road home. "The first two times it happened, I called the police."

That was years ago, and Ms. Cox is used to the noise now, but South Fayette has enough people moving in to keep similar complaints coming, "maybe once a month," said township police Chief Louis Volle.

One of those residents, Carl Massini, of Pin Oak Drive, brought his complaints to the planning commission last month, saying a group of people habitually shoot skeet and other targets in a wooded area near his home, just off Oakridge Road. The planning commission passed the issue to the commissioners.

"When a community is in a growing stage, as South Fayette is, there inevitably comes a time when there is a conflict between shooting and new residents," township Manager Mike Hoy said at Monday's commissioners meeting.

Mr. Hoy offered some ordinances from other municipalities and gave the commissioners some written thoughts on "baby steps" that South Fayette could take: limit hours, limit rapid-fire shooting and increase the distance shooters must be from homes.

"Some neighboring communities, like Bridgeville and Upper St. Clair, allow no discharge of firearms at all, even BB guns," he said. "We have no restrictions at all. Those are the extremes."

The state Game Commission has the sole authority to regulate hunting and it has safety regulations that apply to all shooting anywhere. But municipalities can place additional restrictions on nonhunting firearms use.

Mr. Hoy asked the commissioners to ponder the materials he'd given them until next month and come back with some ideas.

None of them want to move too far too fast, though.

"There are a lot of people still in the township who grew up here and have a certain lifestyle," Commissioner Sue Caffrey said. "It's sort of an old South Fayette versus new South Fayette issue, and we want to be respectful of the old South Fayette people."

But Ms. Cox noted that the time may be passing for universal acceptance of gunfire.

"The Alpine Club is different," she said, referring to the Alpine Hunting and Fishing Club on Alpine Road in the township's southern stretches. "People are supposed to be shooting there, and just because people have built things up around them doesn't mean that should change, but for people to just go out their back door and shoot is a different thing."

The commissioners informally agreed that they would hold a public hearing or town hall meeting on the issue after putting their own thoughts together, acknowledging that it would likely be a contentious debate.

"When I was first on the board 14 years ago, we packed this hall when we tried to pass an ordinance on shooting," commissioners' Chairman Tom Sray said. "We want to be very careful with this."