Category: News || By

(Originally published Wednesday night. Updated Thursday with additional information and quotes. Clarifies that mayor is letting the ordinance become law, but is not signing it.)

Update: Download a copy of the ordinance here.
(PDF reader required)

. . .

City council has outlawed most uses of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes in response to complaints from residents of the Haler Heights neighborhood.

But Councilwoman Fawn Walker-Montgomery has asked other members of council to amend the new law to create special zones --- away from residential areas --- where off-road vehicles would be permitted. A special meeting could be called later this month to discuss a proposed amendment, she told the Almanac.

Following a standing-room-only public hearing Wednesday night at the public safety building, council on a split 4-3 vote passed an ordinance banning off-road use of most ATVs, "quads," dirt bikes and other motorized recreational vehicles. Councilors Dan Carr, Rich Dellapenna and Dale McCall cast "no" votes.

Vehicles used for snow removal, lawn maintenance and other non-recreational purposes are exempt. Violators face fines ranging from $50 to $200 per offense and police have been authorized to impound vehicles.

. . .

Mayor Michael Cherepko said in an interview after the meeting that he will allow the ordinance to become law with the understanding that council is going to amend it quickly.

"I want people to know that I'm against a total ban," Cherepko said, "but basically out of good faith and trusting that the council is going to amend it, I'm going to let it become law."

Cherepko said he would not veto the ordinance. "I left the decision in council's hands," he told the Almanac. "That's the decision they made, and I'll honor it."

Like Cherepko, Walker-Montgomery said an outright ban went further than she would have liked. But, she said, council needed to make some decision. "I don't want residents on either side of this issue to suffer any longer," said Walker-Montgomery, who cast one of the four votes for the ordinance. "This has gone on long enough."

. . .

The ordinance is a response to complaints from a group of Haler Heights residents who were angered by a dirt-bike trail created last summer on four acres of land behind Arnold and Halsey drives. The property is owned by neighborhood residents Jim and Marcie Young, who had promised to restrict ATV and dirt-bike activity to their family and friends.

Led by Beatrice Longo of Wainwright Drive, who drafted an ordinance for council's consideration, neighbors collected nearly 200 signatures on a petition asking the city to ban the vehicles.

A neighbor, Marti Gastel, testified ATVs and dirt-bikes generate both noise and air pollution that harms residents as well as lowering property values.

"There is scientific evidence that noise pollution causes substantial mental and physical harm to people," she said. With all of the other sources of noise, Gastel said, "why add ATVs to the cacophony?"

. . .

But several people who testified at Wednesday's public hearing said the ordinance amounted to city council interfering with the rights of private property owners.

"This is about how we enjoy our own property and what we do with our own property," said Dave Zavetsky of Diehl Drive, who said equipment such as leaf blowers and swimming pool pumps generate similar levels of noise to ATVs.

"Some of the people are upset because they liked having the luxury of a buffer zone," Zavetsky said. "Well, for all of those years they were enjoying that wooded area, someone else was paying the taxes."

He and others testified that complaints about the ATVs amounted to a neighborhood dispute that didn't need to be addressed with a new ordinance. "What will be the next complaint? That family picnics are too loud?" testified Ken Thornton of Summitt Street.

Property owner Jim Young, a city firefighter, said he will continue to fight the law. "I will never buckle to an ordinance that says what I can or cannot do on my own property," he testified.

. . .

Council should amend the ordinance as soon as possible to lift some of the restrictions, Walker-Montgomery said. She urged her colleagues to consider allowing ATVs, dirt-bikes and other off-road vehicles in industrial or commercial areas, or creating some sort of designated "ATV zones."

Councilman Richard Dellapenna Jr. said he would support such an amendment. "I think there needs to be some sort of a compromise short of a total ban," he said. "I would support restricting them to a certain distance from a residence."

Cherepko said he could support the kinds of ideas proposed by Walker-Montgomery and Dellapenna.

"I've said from the very beginning, when this process started, that we have to find some kind of middle ground," he said. "One possibility is to restrict the distance you can operate them from an occupied residential structure. I think a total ban is wrong."

You are previewing your comment. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it.