Draft ATV Bylaw encounters rocky terrain
The city’s proposed ATV Bylaw needs some work before the regulations are adopted, council was told Monday night.
Photo by Whitehorse Star
Keith Lay, Dorothy LeBel and Rick Griffiths
The city’s proposed ATV Bylaw needs some work before the regulations are adopted, council was told Monday night.
“You should really look at this,” longtime resident Keith Lay said during a public hearing on the draft.
Numerous parts of the document “don’t make sense,” Lay said.
Submitting his comments to the city both through his presentation and in writing, Lay argued against many parts of the draft bylaw – from how definitions are written to regulations permitting ATV operators on the road in order to get to the trail system.
“We should not have ATVs on city streets, period,” he said.
Others stated their anger at a regulation permitting operators to push their ATVs through prohibited areas.
Those include boulevards, campgrounds, cemeteries, sites designated as environmentally sensitive, downtown, the Millennium Trail, playgrounds, roadways, ski trails, open water and trails that have been closed.
The regulation creates “massive loopholes,” Rick Griffiths said. He questioned why any ATV operator would be in any of those areas to begin with, and wondered how the city would enforce the rule.
Griffiths also noted a number of operators who make their way across the Robert Campbell Bridge in and out of Riverdale.
He suggested they should have to find another way to get across the Yukon River instead of creating a loophole allowing them to cross the bridge.
Dorothy LeBel agreed, noting many of the ATV operators she knows have said their machines are too heavy to push.
They should be limited to motorized trails, she said.
While she’s used ATVs for work, she noted most often in Whitehorse, operators are using them for recreational purposes, essentially driving “high-impact fossil fuel toys.”
Many ATVs are extremely noisy, raising dust that lingers in the air, council heard.
Some ATVs have been known to cause bush fires and injuries to riders, even when a helmet is worn, increasing costs to the health care system, she said.
LeBel also argued that ATV use discourages pedestrians from using the trail system due to encounters they may have with the machines.
While most of those addressing council at last night’s public hearing didn’t want operators to be able to push their machines through restricted areas, the final delegate to speak on the matter took a different view.
In a quick presentation to council, he commented people should remember that anyone pushing an ATV is showing respect to others by not driving through areas where there are pedestrians or which may be environmentally sensitive.
In addition to the presentations at council, acting city manager Rob Fendrick said the city received two written submissions (including one from Lay) bringing forward concerns about the proposed bylaw.
A public hearing report responding to the issues brought up through the hearing will be presented to council next week, with second and third readings of the bylaw expected to come forward at the July 23 council meeting.
Opposition to the bylaw has been expected, with bylaw manager Dave Pruden informing council last month that some may argue the regulations go too far while others may believe they don’t go far enough.
It will mark the first time the bylaw has been rewritten in 22 years.
Mayor Bev Buckway was absent from last night’s meeting.
Patrick
Jul 10, 2012 at 4:35 pm
“Others stated their anger at a regulation permitting operators to push their ATVs through prohibited areas.
Those include boulevards, campgrounds, cemeteries, sites designated as environmentally sensitive, downtown, the Millennium Trail, playgrounds, roadways, ski trails, open water and trails that have been closed.”
Prohibited areas by definition are prohibited- what more needs to be said. So, we may see people pushing their AVT’s on city streets when they are out to get a newspaper or a case of beer? Whats next- will ATV operators be allowed to drink and drive?