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Off-road code wins support
By Mark Wheeler / Hi-Desert Star
MORONGO BASIN - A proposed off-road vehicle ordinance will soon be appearing before the Board of Supervisors, perhaps by March 21, according to County Code Enforcement Division Chief Randy Rogers.
If approved, the ordinance will identify restrictions for ORV use which will give county code enforcement officers guidance to help other enforcement agencies intervene in illegal and irresponsible riding throughout the county.
A previous version of the document was approved by the county planning commission with recommendations for minor changes. As of press time, those changes were still being added, and the document wasn't yet available for review. However, Rogers assured the new version would not be significantly different from the previous in either spirit or intent.
In that previous version of the ordinance, restrictions for unpermitted event staging and for noise and disturbance of the peace were specified.
Also, a requirement for written permission to trespass on another's private property was included. Anyone caught riding on private property not his or her own, will, according to the ordinance, have to possess written permission from the owner approving the trespass.
Both Rogers and community activist Phil Klasky commended the ordinance as a fair instrument for governing the different activities and impacts addressed in it. What they commended most, though, was the willing cooperation from interests on all sides of the ORV issue in the framing of the document.
“This ordinance is the result of a stakeholder process,” remarked Klasky in an interview, and Rogers praised all participants for “putting their heads together and producing such a mutually agreeable compromise.”
Rogers and Klasky expect the document will be approved by the supervisors because of its practical specifications and its multiple-interest origin.
Chris Hutchins, owner of Hutchins Motor Sports, on the other hand, isn't convinced an ordinance of any sort will solve the problems related to ORV abuse without unfairly burdening law-abiding riders.
Although he is happy to recognize that the proposed ordinance is a product of bipartisan effort, in his view, more law enforcement is a more sensible answer to outlaw ORV activity.
“It's a community problem,” he observes, and he calls for a community fix which would involve a vote for increased property taxes to pay for additional law enforcement personnel.
Besides Rogers and Klasky, the ordinance team included Desert Field Organizer for the California Wilderness Coalition Jason Fried, attorney David Hubbard, who has provided legal counsel for ORV interests, Off-Road Business Association Media Representative Meg Grossglass and other county and community representatives.
“We wanted it to be fair, and we wanted it to be enforceable,” said Rogers about the team's guidelines for its work.
Rogers said the county intends to develop an educational program to help the riding public avoid causing problems for residents and for themselves in the long run.
In expansion on the idea that outlaw activity can cause problems for the ORV community at large, Klasky pointed out that continued nuisance and abuse complaints tend to target the activity as a whole. For this reason, he argued, “legal riders will support this ordinance.”
He noted that many riders have already declared support for the ordinance team's work, and counted them among the many ORV enthusiasts who understand how illegal riding activity hurts the sport's image and its future prospects.
If approved, the ordinance will identify restrictions for ORV use which will give county code enforcement officers guidance to help other enforcement agencies intervene in illegal and irresponsible riding throughout the county.
A previous version of the document was approved by the county planning commission with recommendations for minor changes. As of press time, those changes were still being added, and the document wasn't yet available for review. However, Rogers assured the new version would not be significantly different from the previous in either spirit or intent.
In that previous version of the ordinance, restrictions for unpermitted event staging and for noise and disturbance of the peace were specified.
Also, a requirement for written permission to trespass on another's private property was included. Anyone caught riding on private property not his or her own, will, according to the ordinance, have to possess written permission from the owner approving the trespass.
Both Rogers and community activist Phil Klasky commended the ordinance as a fair instrument for governing the different activities and impacts addressed in it. What they commended most, though, was the willing cooperation from interests on all sides of the ORV issue in the framing of the document.
“This ordinance is the result of a stakeholder process,” remarked Klasky in an interview, and Rogers praised all participants for “putting their heads together and producing such a mutually agreeable compromise.”
Rogers and Klasky expect the document will be approved by the supervisors because of its practical specifications and its multiple-interest origin.
Chris Hutchins, owner of Hutchins Motor Sports, on the other hand, isn't convinced an ordinance of any sort will solve the problems related to ORV abuse without unfairly burdening law-abiding riders.
Although he is happy to recognize that the proposed ordinance is a product of bipartisan effort, in his view, more law enforcement is a more sensible answer to outlaw ORV activity.
“It's a community problem,” he observes, and he calls for a community fix which would involve a vote for increased property taxes to pay for additional law enforcement personnel.
Besides Rogers and Klasky, the ordinance team included Desert Field Organizer for the California Wilderness Coalition Jason Fried, attorney David Hubbard, who has provided legal counsel for ORV interests, Off-Road Business Association Media Representative Meg Grossglass and other county and community representatives.
“We wanted it to be fair, and we wanted it to be enforceable,” said Rogers about the team's guidelines for its work.
Rogers said the county intends to develop an educational program to help the riding public avoid causing problems for residents and for themselves in the long run.
In expansion on the idea that outlaw activity can cause problems for the ORV community at large, Klasky pointed out that continued nuisance and abuse complaints tend to target the activity as a whole. For this reason, he argued, “legal riders will support this ordinance.”
He noted that many riders have already declared support for the ordinance team's work, and counted them among the many ORV enthusiasts who understand how illegal riding activity hurts the sport's image and its future prospects.
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GGWebGrrl wrote on Jan 17, 2009 1:59 PM: