ATV riders upset over new Paradise rules
By TIM PRATT
Evening Sun Reporter
Article Launched: 02/01/2007 09:39:41 AM EST
Jeff Myers has been riding off-road vehicles for as long as he can remember. So when he and wife Alison started a family of their own, the couple had no qualms letting their four children ride around their two-acre property on dirt bikes and four-wheelers.
But for Myers and some other residents of Paradise Township, those days are supposed to be over.
That's because township supervisors last week approved an ordinance that strictly limits off-road riding. The ordinance applies to motorcycles, trail bikes, all-terrain vehicles, go-carts, snowmobiles, trucks, sport-utility and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The ordinance requires riders to stay at least 300 feet from property lines unless their neighbors have given permission.
And that means the Myers family can't legally ride on their property because their property lines are fewer than 300 feet apart.
But the new ordinance isn't necessarily going to change the family's riding plans.
"When they start paying my mortgage payment, that's when they can tell me I can't ride," Jeff Myers said. "If I want to ride, I'll ride. Period."
More than 150 people attended last week's supervisors meeting where the board passed the ordinance. A majority of those in attendance opposed the ordinance, Alison Myers said.
Bill Gagnon spoke out against the new restrictions.
Gagnon moved to his 10-acre property near the intersection of Big Mount Road and Route 234 this September so he and his friends would have a place to ride their off-road vehicles.
Gagnon has since built a track on the property where friends and neighbors have ridden everything from dirt bikes and four-wheelers to cars and trucks.
But under the new ordinance, no riding is allowed on the property because livestock on neighboring properties is fewer than 500 feet away. Riders must remain 500 feet away from any livestock and 20 feet away from any stream, creek, wetland, or other area subject to erosion, the ordinance states.
"I feel it has to be an infringement on our rights in many ways," said Cecelia Meckley, who also lives at the property.
Supervisors passed the ordinance in an attempt to cut down on noise and air pollution in the township. The board even displayed photos of Gagnon's property before approving the ordinance, Gagnon said.
"They said I was the biggest problem," he said.
Gagnon acknowledges police came to his property for a noise complaint, but he said that situation was resolved. And Gagnon said he doesn't have a problem with the township setting time restrictions for off-road riding, but he thinks portions of the ordinance are a bit unfair.
"It would have been different if we got a couple fines, but we never got any," Gagnon said.
The township decided to restrict off-road-vehicle traffic after receiving reports of more than a dozen riders on a property at a time. Under the new ordinance, no more than two off-road vehicles can be operated on a property at any given time.
"We've had a lot of problems," Supervisor James Cappetta Jr. said. "A couple years ago we were going to put an ordinance in and (some riders) came out and we talked to them and agreed É the people would police their own. Guess what? They didn't police their own."
Cappetta said riders sometimes rode after dark, built bonfires and kept neighbors awake with their noisy vehicles. Riders must now do all their riding between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Riders must also take a two-hour break in between every hour in the saddle, the ordinance states.
"Our ordinances were not stern enough to do anything for enforcement so we had to put a (new) ordinance in," Cappetta said. "We're not out there to make a problem for the people. We're out to get a control on it."
Planning commission Chairman Thomas Detwiler said the township has a nuisance ordinance that could be used to restrict off-road riding, but "it's a little difficult to establish what is a nuisance."
"Some of these people with the ATVs have no regard for other people's privacy and peace and quiet," Detwiler said.
The Northern York County Regional Police Department is authorized to enforce the ordinance. An initial violation would result in a verbal warning to the property owner or operator of the offending vehicle, but subsequent violations could result in fines or imprisonment, the ordinance states.
"We're not out there trying to murder anybody," Cappetta said. We're just trying to get a grip on the problem."
Contact Tim Pratt at tpratt@ eveningsun.com.
AT A GLANCE:
The ordinance applies to motorcycles, trail bikes, all-terrain vehicles, go-carts, snowmobiles, trucks, sport-utility and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Off-road motorized vehicles for agriculture, husbandry, lawn care, snow removal or business operations are excluded from the restrictions.
Under the new ordinance:
¥ No more than two recreational vehicles may be operated on a property at the same time.
¥ Riding time is limited between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
¥ Riders must remain at least 300 feet from any property line, unless given permission.
¥ Riders must remain 500 feet away from livestock and 20 feet away from streams, creeks and wetlands.
¥ Riders must take a two-hour break in between every hour of operation.
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