ATV riders, county at odds over where to ride

Allison Bourg

A salesman at Pete's Cycle Co. in Severna Park, John Keough said he hears frequent complaints from customers looking for places to ride their all-terrain vehicles.

They can't find any, at least not within the county's borders.

"A lot of people don't even ride anymore because there's no place to go," said Keough, a dirt bike rider. "Every now and then, there will be petitions to get a dirt bike track built."

But those efforts have always fizzled, Keough said.

"If people are riding, and it's in Anne Arundel County, it's either on private land or on public land where it's not allowed," said Keough, who travels to western Maryland to ride.

ATVs are banned on county-owned land, and riders who ignore those rules could be charged with trespassing and destruction of property.

Frank Marzucco, director of the county's Recreation and Parks Department, said accidents like this month in Jacobsville are a big reason why the county doesn't have an ATV park.

Michael Dailey, 19, of Pasadena was seriously injured on Oct. 6 when he crashed his dirt bike in the Jacobsville Recreation Area. He has since recovered, family members said.

Since 2005, there have been 95 reported ATV accidents in the county, said Justin Mulcahy, county police spokesman. Two of them were fatal.

But ATV enthusiasts wonder just where they're supposed to ride safely and legally.

In Maryland, there are few places to go, said Mike Balazs, service and parts manager for Chesapeake Cycles in Annapolis.

"There should be," he said.

Balazs said many ATV riders in the county cross state lines to ride, heading to popular trails and parks in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

"There are trails there where you can ride for hours and not see the same scenery," he said.

There are a few ATV parks in Maryland, including the Southern Maryland ATV Park in Budds Creek and the Easton ATV Club on the Eastern Shore.

But there's nothing in Anne Arundel County, Balazs said.

It hurts his stores's sales, too, because riders are more likely to purchase their bikes out of state - especially if the sales tax is lower, or non-existent, in the state where they like to ride.

Marzucco said the county does allow BMX performance bikes on certain trails, but not ATVs.

But that doesn't stop some riders, Marzucco said.

"It's a problem from one end of the county to the other," he said.

He pointed to numerous instances where the bikes have torn up public property.

"At Poplar Ridge Park, two winters ago, we had people doing donuts in the middle of the field," he said. "The irrigation systems were disturbed."

The South River Greenway in south county has also been torn up by ATVs, he said.

ATV riders have carved deep ruts in athletic fields across the county, minor damage that is nonetheless hard to cover up, Marzucco said.

"You'll continue to see them. They'll come back and haunt you," Marzucco said.

"Bob Mosier, county schools spokesman, said there have been a "handful" of vandalism incidents involving vehicles on school fields."

"We've had some occurrences. I wouldn't say it happens often," Mosier said.

County officials have done a few things to deter illegal ATV riding.

At Weinberg Park in Pasadena, county workers have stopped removing fallen trees in hot spots for illegal joyriding.

And Marzucco said he hasn't completely ruled out the possibility of opening up county land to ATVs.

"We've gotten some requests, and we have considered that," he said.

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Source: http://www.hometownglenburnie.com/news/Top_Stories/2009/10/21-03/ATV+riders,+county+at+odds+over+where+to+ride%0A.html 

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