|
ATV
ordinance adopted Board split 3-2 Senior Reporter Both sides of the all-terrain vehicle debate for and against driving in Crow Wing County ditches agreed Tuesday there were problems.
But they did not agree on the best way to resolve them.
Tuesday, the Crow Wing County Board voted 3-2 to adopt an ordinance allowing it to control ATV use in county road right-of-ways, namely ditches. The draft ordinance listed sections of five roads to be closed to ATV use. The board reduced the number to a single road - County State Aid Highway 66.
The adopted ordinance allows the county to close additional road right-of-ways in the future but public hearings would be needed first.
Commissioners John Ferrari and Dewey Tautges opposed both the ordinance and restricting ATV use on CSAH 66.
Commissioners Ed Larsen, Terry Sluss and Gary Walters approved. The subject was the largest draw of the day, attracting about 55 people to the meeting in the third-floor courtroom at the courthouse in Brainerd. The ordinance does not affect agricultural use of ATVs.
The restriction involves CSAH 66 from CSAH 3 in Crosslake to CSAH 1 in Manhattan Beach. Commissioners said the closure was needed to protect Trout Lake.
Proponents of ATV use and those in favor of restricting it agreed there were issues of speed and property damage. But they went down different trails when it came to the best way to fix things.
ATV users suggested speed limits, spring restricted use much like road restrictions to prevent damage, enforcement of rules against those too young to drive and regulations on tires or noise. Crow Wing County Highway Engineer Duane Blanck said the county can restrict where ATVs are used, but doesn't have the option to regulate how ATVs are equipped, in regard to such issues as tires.
Those in favor of restricting ATV use spoke of environmental damage, erosion, significant ruts in driveways that ATV riders use as jumps, irresponsible riders who create problems for the rest.
Steve Vandeputte, of Brothers Motorsports, asked to have the issue tabled for six months so solutions could be found instead of cutting off access. He said closing roads to ATVs was penalizing good, honest people.
Phil Hunsicker, Unorganized Territory resident, said another six months of taking the issue back to the drawing board would not fix it. Hunsicker said he tried talking to ATV riders about going into a creek bed that leads into Red Sand Lake. He said riders continued to go there knocking down trees Hunsicker planted on his own property.
Several people said under thin ice conditions, ATVs were essential to their enjoyment of ice fishing. People suggested grant money may be available for areas where trails are designated like snowmobiles. Blanck said the clubs typically are applicants in that process.
Vandeputte said now that people realize their use could be affected there may be options for funding from clubs and businesses to pay to repair damaged ditches. He asked to see facts of safety and environmental issues, adding runoff affecting Trout Lake would upset him as much as anyone. Blanck reported the county tracked some repair costs resulting from ATV damage beginning in June 2005 and found the county spent $20,000.
Carl Medin, Fifty Lakes, spoke of the unsightliness and willful defacing left by ATV use and said a vocal minority was taking control of the county's ditches.
Eric Loge, Pine River, spoke of a degradation of rights of what people can do. "We have to learn to get along," he said. "If we don't, everything will continue to degrade until nothing is allowed."
Brett Hardy, an ATV proponent, said people were not as concerned about ditches as they were about getting a foothold to get rid of ATVs.
"The days when you could do anything you wanted ended with the lone mountain man," said Al Martin, Merrifield, adding there are just too many people now.
Vandeputte said he'd rather put it to the voters in a referendum. Larsen said ATV users are underestimating the growing resentment against them. If the board did nothing the same meetings would happen again in two years time, he said.
Tautges suggested tabling the issue for six months and looking at potential trail funds. He said people need a place to ride but agreed every driveway was not an opportunity to raise a little hell. Sluss, who said the ordinance was a place to start, questioned an ability to enforce speed limits, but said allowing clubs to help with repairs had a lot of potential.
Ferrari said the snowmobile clubs offer a model for ATV clubs to work together on problems. And he said ATV use should not be restricted year-round. Walters, who is in favor of an ATV park, said he wants people to be able to ride ATVs, but wanted the teeth that came with an ordinance as a way to fix problems.
The first motion to restrict use of CSAH 66 for environmental reasons and CSAH 11 for safety reasons failed for lack of a second.
At the end of the session, Larsen said: "If everyone is unhappy, we probably got as good as we can get for today."
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
|
Overcast, 61°
