ATV club seeks access to county trail

Sarah Gantz

The Oswego Valley ATV club may soon have access to the entire county-owned Cato-Fair Haven trail, another step toward their quest for permission to ride all the county's trails.

County officials reason that all-terrain vehicle riders will use the trails regardless of having permission and say that they are willing to expand the club's access because their agreement requires the club to maintain the trails they use, which the county can not afford on its own and officials say the club has done adequately.

The club has had use of the east end of the Hojack trail and the north end of the Cato-Fair Haven trail into Fair Haven on a trial basis since last year.

Opponents disagree and say ATVs destroy the county's trails and endanger other trail users.

“Just walking our dog has been dangerous when they fly by at 50 miles an hour,” said Amy D'Angelo, who lives along the Hojack trail, west of its intersection with the Cato-Fair Haven trail.

The club does not currently have access to that part of the Hojack trail, but next year intends to pursue it, in order to reach Wayne County, said club president Jim Marra.

“I see this as one stop on opening our county trail system to a use that is just not compatible to the other users of the trail,” D'Angelo said.

She said the county should have done more to inform people who live along the trail of the potential change in use and should enforce greater regulation of proper registration of riders.

Legislator Christopher Palermo, whose district encompasses much of the trail system, said he had heard mostly neutral, and some positive comments from constituents about opening the trails to ATV use. Palermo said he has been notified of only one constituent's discontent.

He sympathized with concerns for safety, but compared the mixed use of the trail to a body of water, where swimmers and cannoers coexist with motorboats, which could easily harm a person in the water.

Granting the club permission, with conditions, is the best way to manage the inevitable, he said.

“Not giving the clubs permission doesn't mean the ATVs won't be there,” Palermo said. “There's a large group that's going to be there no matter what.”

Parks and Trails Commissioner Gary Duckett inspects the trails and said he has only had problems on the sections the club does not have permission to use and therefore does not maintain.

The club spends thousands of dollars on gravel and equipment to smooth the paths they are allowed to use, said Marra. A maintenance team works about three days a week during their April to October season.

He said the club adheres to a code of conduct and ethics that gives right of way to pedestrians, sticks to the rules of where they can ride and has its own insurance.

“I think the majority of people think that everybody who's got an ATV is going to go out and raise Cain all over the property and just destroy everything,” Marra said. “We're not going to do that.”

Between 300 and 400 of the club's 600 or so members use Cayuga County's trails, he said, and are a self-policing group. They monitor other users and report inappropriate behavior.

“There's just a very, very few who create the problems and give everybody a bad reputation,” said Marra, adding that usually those people are not members of the Oswego Valley club.

The length of trail the club is currently seeking extends south to Cato and would get them closer to connecting with the trails owned by an ATV club in Montezuma.

Michael Chapman, whose district includes Cato, was opposed to allowing the club access to county trails last year, when the Legislature first granted use, but said he has changed his opinion because he believes he has the support of his constituents and town officials.

“I think they talked to some of our neighbors to the north and found them to be very pleased with what the ATV club was able to do,” Chapman said. “I think they realize maintenance is an issue.”

If passed, the resolution would give the club access for one year.

“It's a one year deal - if it doesn't work, we won't do it again,” Palermo said.

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Source: http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2010/01/22/local_news/news01.txt

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