California

This letter concerns recent issues about Deputy District Attorney Brent Redelsperger.

The only issue that has not been addressed here is that he was apparently trespassing on private roads and properties while looking for a place to ride his "off-road vehicles" with his children. Is this the proper thing to teach your children?

I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of the fighting over off-road vehicle use. It’s time to get working on solutions.

I’ve lived in the Morongo Basin for 18 years. I love my community and enjoy the wide variety of folks who have also made this their home. Creating peace in a diverse neighborhood takes work. Ordinance 3973, the off-road vehicle ordinance, has been a successful attempt to promote such peace. ORV use had long been a source of terrible discord among desert neighbors, with no clear or effective framework for settling disputes. Over the last few years since the ordinance has taken effect I’ve seen peace and order restored to my neighborhood as law enforcement finally got the tools they needed to do their job.

Cynthia Lambert

The Pismo Beach and Grover Beach city councils voted this week to ask the county Air Pollution Control District board not to take any action on a recent study on the particulate pollution caused by off-roaders at the Oceano Dunes state park.

Instead, the councils want the board to wait until California State Parks finishes an environmental impact report that should in part review operations at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.

Matt Fountain

For some county residents, the presentation by Air Pollution Control District (APCD) representatives to the Health Commission vindicated their concerns about poor air quality on the Nipomo Mesa. For others, namely those who drive off-highway vehicles (OHVs) at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, it came as a shock—that a state park would be violating state air safety standards, and the finger was pointed squarely at them.

It is well known and documented that when there is high wind, the park exceeds state standards for airborne particulate matter (PM). However, proponents of recreational vehicle use on the dunes say the recently released APCD Phase Two study on PM at the Mesa hasn’t convinced them their vehicles are the main cause.

Concerned about trespassing and land erosion on private property by off-road vehicles, the Yolo County Sheriff's Department is putting together a grant application for an "Off-Highway Enforcement Team."

"There has been an ongoing problem between recreational use of off-highway vehicles and land owners within Yolo County," according to Sheriff's Department spokesman Lance Faille. "OHV riders have trespassed and caused damage to their property. Many land owners along the areas where most problems occur have gone to great lengths to prevent OHV riders from entering their property.

Phil Klasky

In 2006, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass Ordinance 3973 to provide code enforcement and law enforcement with the tools they asked for to manage off-road vehicle activity in the county. The ordinance received unanimous support because it was developed by a group of stakeholders convened by code enforcement who met for four months to create a fair and effective law. Our organization was one of the stakeholders along with conservation groups, homeowners associations, ORV recreationists, the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) and the Off-Road Vehicle Association (ORBA).

Code enforcement and the sheriff's department report that the ordinance has significantly cut down on trespass, noise, nuisance and conflicts between residents and riders.

Mike Hodgson

Opponents of off-roading in the Oceano Dunes are hailing a recent study as more ammunition in their campaign to shut down the off-highway vehicle park because it’s harming the health of Nipomo Mesa residents.

But off-roaders are questioning the science of the study, saying the report is incomplete and ignores certain facts.

Bob Cuddy

The county Health Commission is urging the Board of Supervisors to take “any and all” steps within its power to revegetate and stabilize the Oceano Dunes state park — a move that could, in theory, lead to a temporary shutdown of parts of the recreational area.

The commission voted Monday night to send a letter to supervisors recommending that they take immediate steps to address the public health problem on the Nipomo Mesa created by particulate matter that blows to the mesa from the Dunes.

The San Luis Obispo Health Commission took a bold heroic step at its March 8 meeting, regarding the APCD Phase 2 Study.  It passed two motions to advise the Board of Supervisors to do everything possible to stop the health-threatening air pollution from the ODSVRA immediately, and to inform the public about the dangers. Among the actions the BOS can take are:

1. Use its police powers to impose a temporary moratorium on off-roading to protect public health, as authorized by its Planning area (South County) Standards for Pismo State Beach and State Vehicular Recreation Area, and California Coastal permit.