Commission initiates ATV ordinance talks

By Scott Aust, Journal Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 09, 2006

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RAPID CITY -- A proposed ordinance to prohibit all-terrain vehicle operation on roads under Pennington County's jurisdiction probably won't be a blanket ban.

On Tuesday, the Pennington County Commission discussed the ordinance, which would allow the county to designate roads, or portions of roads, for no ATV or off-road vehicle use. The goal is to keep off-road vehicles out of the ditches where they sometimes cause concerns about dust, erosion, noise and safety.

A new state law that went into effect July 1 gives counties the right to control ATV use on county roads. ATVs being used for legitimate agriculture purposes or service-type uses would be exempt.

"As I see where we're headed here, we're not looking to do an overall ban of all roads in Pennington County," Commissioner Ken Davis said.

Jay Alderman of the State's Attorney's Office said the ordinance prohibits people from operating off-road vehicles on any county highway ditch where the county has placed signs prohibiting the activity.

"You can do it county-wide, or you can do it wherever you want - 100 feet of this road or 1,000 feet of that road. It's your choice," Alderman said.

Commissioner Jim Kjerstad said it's important to have the ordinance in place first. The county could choose which roads or sections of roads on which to ban ATVs, on a case-by-case basis.

"I think we definitely need the ordinance in place so that if somebody comes along at some point in time and has a stretch of road needing to be designated, we have the vehicle to deal with it," he said.

"I suspect somebody would come in, ideally on a complaint basis, and say, 'From here to here in our neighborhood, ATVs are tearing up the ditch, and we'd like to have it stopped.'"

Commissioner Mark Kirkeby questioned whether the ordinance is necessary.

"I don't know if we actually have a problem with ATVs," he said. "I personally never have been contacted by anybody. For the life of me, I don't think we have a problem in county jurisdiction."

Kjerstad said he has received e-mails about implementing some sort of control of ATVs, and Davis said the only complaint he has received about a county road concerned Rochford Road. The rest have been about ATVs operating along state or federal highways, roads over which the county has no jurisdiction, Davis said.

"I know in my area, the only problem is on state and federal highways. There's not much we can do there, and the state is obviously not going to do anything," he said.

Sheriff Don Holloway said the Sheriff's Office has received complaints from people who live along Reservoir Road, but with no ordinance in place, he had to tell them there was little he could do.

"My guess is, once you put this in place, in some of these residential areas where motorcycles and ATVs are roaring up and down the ditches, people will probably come in and make a request," Holloway said. "In the future, if this ordinance is in place, I could tell them they could come to the board and request a resolution to close that section of road."

Commissioner Gale Holbrook said he wants to hear more input from the public about the proposed ordinance.

"I'd like to know those people who are truly interested in this ordinance - for and against this ordinance," he said. "Quite honestly, I know there are a lot of people who certainly want to see this ordinance passed, and there are people who would rather not have it passed. I think we need to get a good handle on the support or opposition."

The commission voted to have first reading of the ordinance at its Aug. 22 meeting. An ordinance requires two separate readings and votes before being enacted.

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