County delays ATV vote

By Scott Aust, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, July 14, 2006

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RAPID CTIY -- Discussion of a proposed ordinance to ban all terrain vehicles on Pennington County roads has been put off for a month.

Pennington County is considering banning all terrain vehicles on county highways and rights of way, following a new state law that went into effect July 1 giving counties the right to control ATV use on county roads.

The first draft of an ordinance has been prepared, but no one from the state's attorney's office was available for Tuesday morning's county commission meeting to talk about it. As a result, the commission delayed discussion for a month to give themselves time to review the proposed ordinance.

The new law would allow the county commission to prohibit ATV or off-road vehicle use altogether on any highway under the county's jurisdiction. ATVs being used for legitimate agriculture purposes or service-type uses would be exempt.

The law also requires the county to erect signs along roads and intersections where ATVs are banned. According to the county highway department, if ATVs were banned county-wide, a total of 4,000 signs would be necessary.

At $125 per sign, 4,000 signs would cost $500,000.

Commissioner Delores Coffing said the county probably doesn't need to ban ATVs on all county roads, only on those roads where a clear problem exists. Coffing read a letter from a county resident concerned about the safety of young children riding ATVs in the ditches along county roads.

"They question the fact that these four-wheelers are driven by kids 10 years old. That's where our problem comes in," Coffing said. "I don't know what the situation would be if one of those kids got killed. It would be a shame."

Commissioner Ken Davis said the people he has heard from are evenly split on the need for an ATV ban.

"It's about 50-50, people that want it and people that don't want it," he said.

The county could address problem areas on a case by case basis, commissioner Gale Holbrook said, though an ordinance would still be necessary.

"If we get a call or a letter, then I think we should ask them to come in, and we can address that issue in that area, and then decide what to do," he said. "We need to develop that ordinance, and then I would just wait for people to come in or contact us about a particular area."

The commission voted to discuss the proposed ordinance again Aug. 8.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com