Planning Commission recommends denying snowmobile club proposal
By Alex Johnson
Correspondent
The Town of Waterford Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously denied recommending a snowmobile club’s proposal to designate township roads as recreational vehicle routes.
The Town Board will make the final decision on the matter Monday, July 10.
The Tichigan Sno-N-Go club submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission to allow the use of all-terrain and utility-terrain vehicles on public roads.
The group wanted to create an improved system of ATV trails, similar to the snowmobiling trails in the winter months, but the commission denied the proposal 4-0. That recommendation will go to the full board, which meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
The petition viewed the town roads as “connectors” between various trails around the Waterford and Tichigan areas.
David Kwazinski, an avid ATV rider and proponent of the petition, said having trails in the township would keep revenue in Waterford.
“I just so happen to be a weekend warrior, going up north with the ATV every weekend. I see a lot of revenue up there,” he said. “I don’t have to go up north every weekend. I can keep it in town.”
Although wanting to reach a compromise such as a temporary permit for ATV/UTV vehicles on main roads, the opposition weighed their opinions heavily.
A 39-year resident of the Tichigan area, Joel Dickinson, stressed his three most important reasons for not being in favor of the permit – congestion, safety and noise, in addition to the turning of residential roads into recreational ones.
Roy Schmidt, a member of the Planning Commission, echoed Dickinson’s remarks, saying he was opposed to the places the ATV riders would travel to.
“For snowmobilers, their trails go from bar to bar to bar. They don’t stop and visit with people; their main objective is to go from bar to bar,” he said.
But the commission voiced their biggest concerns on the issues of safety and cost, noting the dangers of mixing car traffic with ATV and UTV use, and concern about lawsuits should an accident happen.
“Somebody gets hit by a sign three inches where it shouldn’t be and they get hurt by it, somebody is going to pay a lot of money,” said commissioner Jan Alvey.
The full board meets again on Monday to make the final decision on whether or not to allow the use of ATV-UTV vehicles on main roads.
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