OHV permit under the ax

Stacy Moore

SAN BERNARDINO — A requirement that 10 or more people gathering to go off-roading on private property must obtain a $155 permit could be erased from county code.

It’s a change that is earning approval from off-road advocates and anger from groups like Community Off-road Watch.

The Morongo Basin’s county supervisors, Neil Derry and Brad Mitzelfelt, plan in a meeting as early as Jan. 26 to recommend removing the staging-permit requirement from San Bernardino County’s off-highway vehicle code, passed in 2006.

Under the current ordinance, groups of 10 to 199 people gathering to use off-highway vehicles must obtain a temporary special event permit.

The new language allows a gathering without a permit as long as the event is occurring on a lot that’s at least 2 1/2 acres, is consistent with the other provisions in the ordinance and lasts four consecutive days or less within a 30-day period.

In the past three years, six people have received 14 permits — a number the supervisors say is so low, it proves the permit itself isn’t necessary.

“You don’t need a permit that people aren’t applying for,” said Derry, who represents the 3rd district, covering the Basin’s west end.

The supervisor has philosophical objections to the permit, as well.

“It doesn’t make much sense to charge people to use their own property, as long as they’re doing so within the guidelines of the ordinance,” he said in a telephone interview Monday.

“I fully support people using their own property within certain guidelines that prevent them from interfering with others enjoying their property,” he added. “That’s why we have code enforcement: to help alleviate those issues.”

Derry and Mitzelfelt argue the ordinance does enough without the permit to prevent public nuisances caused by off-highway vehicles.

“You don’t need the staging permit portion to enforce the public nuisance codes,” Derry said.

His opinion is the direct opposite of the message from Community Off-road Watch, the Wonder Valley-based group that helped launch the movement that resulted in the county’s ordinance.

“Mitzelfelt is threatening the safety and security of desert residents and the integrity of our precious desert lands,” reads a message on the COW Web site.

The organization points out that, without the permit requirement, as many as 199 people with off-highway vehicles may gather on property as small as 2.5 acres for six days in a row without applying for advance permission.

Leader Phil Klasky called the permit requirement an essential tool.

“Like four legs of a table, this is one of the legs that hold up the ordinance,” Klasky said Tuesday.

“The permit serves as a deterrent to large, uncontrolled, unmanaged stagings. We’ve heard consistently from both code enforcement and law enforcement that it is effective.”

And while Ray Pessa, president of the off-roading group Friends of Giant Rock, says removing the permit section “is not going to make a whit of difference to anybody,” Klasky argues the permit process encourages better conduct at large-scale events.

“People who have applied for a permit know that they will be visited by code enforcement, and that makes them behave better,” Klasky said.

In addition, when someone applies for a staging permit, code enforcement contacts the owners of neighboring property. “It enables residents to have a say in the matter and register a complaint ahead of time if these people have been bad actors in the past,” he said.

The two supervisors contend that code enforcement can provide enough oversight without the permit process.

Pessa agrees. He and fellow members have made changing the ordinance a three-year cause, keeping in contact with the supervisors and their staff members.

Pessa is hopeful their work will pay off when the supervisors meet.

“I anticipate a favorable outcome here. We’ve provided a lot of information, identifying the areas that are problematic and identifying the fact that a staging permit really has nothing to do with the problematic areas of off-highway vehicles,” Pessa said Monday.

“There are problems out there,” he conceded. “Code enforcement is still addressing it and the sheriff addresses it, but there are isolated incidents.”

Friends of Giant Rock approves of the rest of the ordinance, and credits it with reducing conflicts over off-highway vehicles.

“Things are getting better, but it’s not because of the staging permit,” he said. “It’s because of the personal contacts made by the sheriff’s department and code enforcement.”

COW disagrees, and Derry said while his staff has changed some minds, they won’t change them all.

“My staff has had discussions with a number of people, and I think after talking with them, they understand there’s a portion of the ordinance that was redundant or unnecessary,” he said.

“There will be people who will still oppose it (removing the permit requirement), but it’s the right thing to do.”

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Source: http://hidesertstar.com/articles/2010/01/06/news/doc4b4431b525446548149508.prt 

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