After months of meetings, surveys and presentations to council, ATV operators are subject to new rules.

That became the reality after the city passed the final reading of the updated ATV bylaw at its meeting Monday night.

And opponents to a section of the bylaw that would have permitted operators to push their vehicles through prohibited areas such as the Millennium Trail, campgrounds, environmentally sensitive areas and others can claim a victory. Council made a last-minute amendment to delete that section.

Instead, an operator must get a permit from city officials to go into prohibited areas.

Even before the amended bylaw was passed, one Riverdale resident was already prepared to thank council for listening to delegates and making the Millennium Trail off-limits to ATVs.

Last week, Rick Griffiths pleaded with council to take the Millennium Trail and environmentally sensitive areas off of the list of spots ATV operators could push their machines through.

Last night, he said it was his understanding council was planning to amend the bylaw to keep the trail free of ATVs. If that was indeed the case, he said, he is thankful to the city.

Griffiths did note it is one thing to declare the Millennium Trail as a non-motorized artery, but quite another to ensure it remains ATV-free.

Griffiths said he recognizes it would be unreasonable to have a city bylaw officer at all times at the Rotary Centennial Bridge, which is part of the trail,

However, he asked the city to align the gates to the bridge in a way that would prevent ATVs from accessing it while still ensuring cyclists, pedestrians and those who use wheelchairs could still easily enjoy it.

The section that would have permitted operators to push their ATVs through prohibited areas was a major concern for numerous delegates who came forward over the last few weeks asking that it be taken out of the bylaw.

Local resident Keith Lay has made presentations week after week on the matter, and last night was no different.

He argued the city should be using its urban containment boundary as a map of where ATVs should be prohibited.

It would go a long way to dealing with many of the ATV issues which arose, such as trail user conflicts, and make it easy to identify those violating regulations.

Lay also continued to ask that the city do away with regulations that permit ATVs on the roadways (to take the most direct route to and from the trail system).

He argued the machines are not made for pavement and because of that, it is dangerous to have them on the road.

He also took issue with a planned education campaign, arguing it could lead to promoting ATVing and dangerous behaviour on the machines. He argued it should be the parents of school children who are educated on the matter.

"Do not compromise the safety of our citizens or the environment,” he told council.

Dorothy LeBel also joined Lay in calling on council to keep ATVs out of the city's urban areas and brought forward information on similar legislation in Terrace, B.C.

"ATVs were never designed for use in an urban area,” she said.

She pointed out the urban containment boundary is only a fraction of the city, with many trails outside of it.

Lebel too took issue with the education campaign, arguing it would "normalize” riding ATVs. Education, she said, needs to happen on reducing fossil fuels.

Before adopting the new bylaw, both Councillors Dave Stockdale and Kirk Cameron noted the regulations are a compromise from the input the city received on the matter.

"It's a good compromise,” Stockdale said.

He added he wants to see complaints coming in carefully tracked by bylaw staff.

If there are many complaints which continue to come in over the next year, the city may have to look at the bylaw again and decide if it has to take its regulations a step further.