April 27, 2023 at 11:25 a.m.
St. Germain entertains request to open town roads to ATV/UTVs
By Fred Williston-
Gary Penner, president of the ATV club, opened the discussion by addressing the board.
"I've been getting a push on this - questions on this, requests for this - from the town residents for a couple of years," he said. "I know that there was a pushback from some of the original board members about not doing this, but at the time, we did not have the roads open in town, specifically (Wisconsin State Highway) 155 and (Wisconsin State Highway) 70."
"Before, there was really no place to go," Penner said. "You couldn't get across 155 to go west, because that's a snowmobile trail up there. You couldn't go north or east, because you couldn't get out of downtown. You couldn't go south, because you couldn't get through downtown. Well, those roads are open now. 155 and 70 are open, and so now there's someplace to go."
"The towns around us - Eagle River, Minocqua, Woodruff...Newbold - have opened their town roads," Penner added. "And then, of course there are the county roads: G, O, J; so we can get out to those communities. But I think the biggest push for this has been from local residents wanting to get in their ATVs or UTVs, go down to the post office; go to a restaurant; go see their neighbors; go shopping; get gas, whatever. So that's why we decided to move forward at this point. We now have the capability - physically - to do that. I think it would require an ordinance change...and so, that's the request."
"This would be for hard-surface roads, which is what Woodruff and Minocqua have done," Penner said. "And (ATVs and UTVs) would still have to stay off of the snowmobile trails."
Supervisor Ted Ritter asked, "Snowmobile trails? Not the town roads that are designated as (snowmobile) routes?"
"Right," Penner said. "Today, you cannot ride on the snowmobile trails, period...That's the state law."
Christensen pointed out if the club's request were to be implemented now, there would still be "islands" where ATV/UTV use would be legal, but would not provide egress routes for riders to leave those areas.
"Everybody that lives west on Highway 70 can't get to town," Christensen said. "Everybody that lives on Highway C can't get to town...Everybody to the east of Jamie's Java now is not going to be able to utilize it, other than to go up and down their road and maybe into Cloverland."
The Town of Cloverland (immediately to the east of St. Germain), has also opened its hard-surface roads for year-round use.
"We have two problems there," Penner replied. "So, when Vilas County opened up the county roads, C was excluded. I'm not exactly sure why at that time. If we want C to be open, I think we can come back to the county on that. And we probably should. Although, for C to be open, for us, what we've talking about here, you can go from 70 up to close to Sayner, then go back, and go east across Big Saint across to the restaurants and bars down there. You can't get across 155, though. So that still remains a bit of an island there. So it's to the north, the east, and the south where we would open it up."
"When this was brought up a couple of years ago, that was a big thing: how everybody was going to break the law and drive on the snowmobile trails, and your club members were adamant about that," supervisor Brian Cooper noted.
"Well, I don't necessarily agree with where my club members were at," replied Penner. "I wasn't on-board at that time. Times have changed. And back then - and I don't know this - I don't know if any towns were open, but very few were open year-round. And now, look across the county."
Penner said he has corresponded with other towns which have opened their roads. "They were expecting a lot of trouble," he said, but complaints about ATV/UTV use have been minimal.
Penner also stated that he talked to (Vilas County Sheriff's Office Resource Officer) Jason Molle.
"I didn't ask him to endorse it at all; I wanted to get his opinion," he explained. He said that it would be better for visitors and locals if we did this. He was saying that consistency would be good; would be best."
"Would it create difficulty for the law-enforcement of it?" supervisor Jim Swenson asked. 'This half of the town is available; this half ain't'?"
Referring to his conversation with Deputy Molle, Penner offered an answer. "For residents, visitors, and law enforcement, it would be easier if there was consistency across the towns," he said.
"So you'd be asking us to open the town's hard-surface roads, as well as that section of 155 and 70?"Cooper asked.
"Yes, yes," Penner answered.
"It will take an ordinance change," Christensen said. "The only thing that we can really do is to ask Ted (Ritter) to please start the changes, if that's what we want."
From the audience, former ATV club president Jeff Sauer offered input.
"I really don't think the town is going to see ATV traffic in the wintertime, except for people that want to ice-fish," he said. "That's going to be your majority...We all drive around here in the wintertime: how many ATVs to do see on the roads in Cloverland or Arbor Vitae and all the towns around? In Eagle River this year, I think I saw one that was running in town. And what were they doing? They were pulling a sled behind them to go ice-fishing."
"You're giving people that don't have a snowmobile - that don't fit into that crowd or want to do that sport - ...the opportunity to pull their unit out onto the ice from their house," Sauer said.
Penner agreed. "I don't see this proposal turning us into a (ATV/UTV) destination in the wintertime," he said. "That's not going to happen. This is more of a local request."
"I just sent the letter (from the ATV club to the town) over to the snowmobile club," Christen sen said. "Their meeting isn't until tomorrow night...At the very least, I think we should have input from them - one way or the other - as to what their feelings are about it."
Audience member Steve LaRiviere had a question. "I'm just curious why you want to ask the snowmobile club regarding the ATV routes. If we're not allowed on the snowmobile club routes (sic), I'm just curious why their opinion would matter if we're having our own routes. And nothing against them, the snowmobile club. Because I'm a snowmobiler, too. I'm just curious as to why their opinion would matter if we're not using any of their trails."
"It's strictly out of respect for their snowmobile trails," Christensen answered. "I do feel there is a very high potential of confusion, and that's one of the reasons I'm worried about it. And the snowmobile business in the Town of St. Germain in the wintertime is too big to ruin for the ATV Club, in my opinion. So if they have a concern that I'm not aware of, or if they don't have any concern, that helps me make my decision."
Ritter then made a motion to table discussion until the board's first meeting in May "to give us more time to prepare a draft revision to the ordinance, and to follow the protocol that we follow any time we're changing our ordinance."
"A draft modification to the ordinance would be presented to the town board at our first meeting in May," Ritter said. "And at that point, the board would decide whether or not to take it to the next step, which is making it available to the public to review. We'd give the public an opportunity to come and speak to it. We aren't required by state statute to have a public hearing on this, but our town practice - our own internal ordinance - requires us to have an opportunity for public input. It's the same thing as a hearing; it's just not as formal as a hearing."
Ritter's motion passed with a unanimous vote from the board.
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