HOULTON, Maine —With ATV riders across the state waiting for access to the trails, town councilors have adopted an ordinance to designate more ATV access routes in the community after a first attempt failed seven years ago.
During a meeting last week, councilors voted 5-1 to approve the new ordinance. Councilor Sue Tortello, unhappy with wording in the edict that she pegged as “too vague,” voted in opposition.
In 2005, ATV enthusiasts came before the council and requested that officials open up more access routes in town so riders could navigate legally around more streets.
A handful of ATV trails dot the outskirts of town, and sometimes operators must ride a short distance on public roads to reach a trail. Under state law, a registered ATV driver may not exceed a distance of 300 yards traveling on a public way.
This means riders sometimes cannot get from their homes to nearby trails legally, nor can they always legally reach restaurants and gas stations by ATV. Riders have said that they could pour money into the coffers of local businesses if they could get to restaurants and stores by ATV. The access routes could help them reach trails that legally would take them to stores or to places where they could park and walk to a business.
Some residents objected to the idea, expressing concerns about safety, speeding riders and noise.
Although an ATV committee was organized to examine the issue back in 2005, the council rejected their proposal because the plan didn’t designate access roads but instead imposed a 10 mph speed limit, with no riding allowed between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. To reduce noise pollution, ATVs needed to have factory-authorized mufflers.
At the time, one councilor called the proposal “crap,” an ATV enthusiast called it “garbage,” and the council chairman called it a “horrible piece of legislation.”
Councilor Mike Jenkins brought the issue back to the table in March because he felt that the community could benefit from having more access roads. At the same time, he did not want to see the community’s busiest streets opened to ATV riders.
The new ordinance will allow certain town-owned and maintained roads to be used for access to trails as long as riders remain on the far right-hand side of the road and ride at 10 mph. Streets in the downtown would not be accessible to ATV riders. Downtown Market Square is a high-traffic area with a number of stores and offices. The proposal also excludes all state-owned roads from being used, including U.S. Route 1, Route 2A and Route 2.
Despite the exclusion, ATV riders will be able to get to a number of stores, restaurants and gas stations on a section of U.S. Route 1 known as North Street. That’s because the council in 2007 designated the Access Road as an ATV trail to make it easier for riders to reach the businesses on that part of North Street.
During last week’s meeting, Tortello said that she was not “anti-ATV,” but she was not sure the ATV issue was really a problem in the community. She noted that since 2008, there have been 62 ATV complaints, 15 of them in the last 16 months. She also said that she did not like the part of the ordinance that talked about where the ATV access route signs would be erected. She thought it would be too costly to put one sign up on more than 150 streets. She also was concerned that the ordinance did not set a limit for how far a rider could travel on a public road to reach a trail.
Jenkins said police would know whether they saw an ATV rider in an area that did not have a trail nearby.
“They are going to go from point A to point B to get on the trail,” he said, adding that no one would see ATVs darting around traffic downtown or going to the grocery store. “They [the police] should be able to determine if the rider is going to the closest trail or not.”
Those who violate the ordinance face a $50 fine for the first offense with increases in increments of $50 for subsequent violations. After the third offense, ATV operators could have their machines confiscated.
ATV operation is prohibited Nov. 30-May 15.
I have to buy liability insurance to drive my car/truck/motorcycle on the roads. Are ATV riders required to have insurance? If not, why not?
I agree what if one of these reckless ATV speed freaks crash into my car?
The same can be said for people that hit motorcycles
Call you rep in Augusta an find out or as the police .
No matter, hard to tell what roads are the main roads in the county, since most of the paved roads are turning back to dirt roads anyway.
houlton is about one of the most redneck town in maine they even make guns there
This is a great step. I go to Houlton multiple times during the spring, summer and fall to ride the trails. My family alone pours tons of money into the economy in Houlton, not to mention all of our friends that go up. Hopefully riders will respect the privilages that are given to us so that we can continue to enjoy the sport we love.
Yes you are right people will ride to towns were they can gas up an go to places to sit down an eat i know i do when i ride my atv
Apparently Sue doesn’t read the State Code to well. State Code has the distance an ATV can travel on a public road between ATV trail’s is 300 yards. If she doesn’t like it, fine. Complain to the County Comissioner’s or Augusta since that’s where the LAW was drafted and signed in to Maine Code. As far as the sign’s, do us all a favor and let Public Works do their job. They, along with the local ATV Club’s know where every trail crossing is within 10 miles of town. Why not let those who know help the town to work this out ? And since this is minor matter in the grand scheme of things, why isin’t the Town Manager into this ? That’s where this road sign thing belongs in the 1st place. And no, I don’t have an ATV. But I’ve seen enough of them popping out at the dammedset times and place’s to know it’s it’s better to have them pop up at a known spot than to be surprised out of no where. No one wants a Zen moment. HRH has seen way to many of these. So has the Fire Department.
So these people will only frequent a restaurant if they can get there with an ATV?
Will they also be able to ride their mowers/lawn tractors to the same gas stations to circumvent the dreaded gas can?
Ease of access is a legitimate reason for this.
The 2 excuses for not ‘pouring money’ into the economy at area businesses are plain silly.
I go to Houlton and Jackman multiple times during all 4 seasons to ride my ATV and my snowmobile. I can say that the places that get my business when I’m up there 9 times out of 10 are places that I can get to on my ATV or sled because it is easier. When I’m in Houlton staying at the Shiretown, the Dysarts across the street gets my business because I can walk over or go over on my ATV. If I had access to other food establishments on ATV I would go to those food establishments. When I drive all the way up there to ride my ATV or my snowmobile I want to ride the machine, not get in the truck and drive down the road. Some mornings we get up and head down to Grammies in Linneus to get breakfast or for dinner…because we can get there on our machines. The answer to your first question…Yes, I will only frequent there if I can get there on my ATV.
That would make you a tourist (not a local), similar to me. We’re on vacation and doing vacation things. When I visit my hometown and stay at the Shiretown, I occasionally use my brother’s to bomb along woods roads, and sometimes need to travel 1/4 mile of road to get to a trail. That’s a bit different than using it as a second car to go shopping. The shoulders are too narrow on many roads not to be in the way of traffic just to circumvent schleping a gas can.