CORNER BROOK, N.L. — The City of Corner Brook has approved opening up more streets to all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), but opposition to the idea has meant not all of those included in a notice of motion issued in May are on the new list.
The city had proposed adding West Street, Park Street, Todd Street, Chestnut Street, Confederation Drive, Massey Drive Georgetown Road, and a part of Curling Street west of the intersection with Georgetown Road. It’s those latter two areas that generated the greatest opposition when the city sought the public’s opinion on the plan.
That prompted city staff to recommend to council take those two streets off the list. A briefing note presented at the latest council meeting said many residents of Georgetown Road are opposed to their street being used by ATV traffic. Of the 28 comments received, 75 per cent were negative.
Coun. Tony Buckle presented the original motion to change the Recreational Vehicles Regulations 2019 that included the two contentious areas during this week's councile meeting. Then Coun. Josh Carey moved to make an amendment to the motion to exclude them as identified in the staff recommendation and because of the feedback from residents.
A sampling of what residents had to say on the issue
Negative
- "Please remove Hilliard’s Road from the list of accessible areas, this activity is driving us nuts! And to expand on this is ludicrous because, as of now, there is no enforcement of the current policy."
- "The more you open up, the more risk you are creating. Eventually, there will be an accident and the city will be named in an action; it is only a matter of time."
- "As a taxpayer, I feel this is the wrong decision to make. I am opposed to adding more routes and actually having them on the roads at all. ATVs are designed as off-road and not for asphalt."
- "I think Georgetown Road should be excluded because it is a residential area. Too many children and too much noise."
Positive
- "I think it’s a great thing for the users and the businesses of the city! And for greater access for the uses of ATVs!"
- "Great for the community in Corner Brook. Plans to invest in an ATV in the near future."
- "I think Country Road/Caribou Road should be included in this ATV route!"
- "I personally would love to have access to other parts of the city from Georgetown Road, and to the old railway trails. Corner Brook needs to open the full city to summertime ATVs and be ATV friendly like Massey Drive and other towns."
Source: City of Corner Brook
In the discussion that followed, Buckle, who is an ATV user, acknowledged the complaints, but said he was against taking the two areas out of the regulations.
“I think the people in that area are frightened of the unknown,” he said.
And he said a lot of people in the area have ATVs and use the road.
“It’s not legal, but they use it.”
Buckle felt the city would be going backward by excluding the areas and said if it was passed, council would be more obligated to ensure the activity was controlled and may be able to stop the illegal use.
Carey said council could only go by the discussion it’s had and the feedback and did not feel it was a step backward.
“This is not an existing route, this will be an addition to the route.”
Mayor Jim Parsons and councillors Linda Chaisson, Bernd Staeben, and Vaughn Granter also weighed in and acknowledged the concerns of residents.
Parsons said it’s clear there is some existing illegal traffic and whether council makes the change or not the potential for illegal traffic is still there.
Chaisson said she received a lot of calls about the proposed changes and safety is a major issue. She supported removing the two from the list.
Staeben said just because a decision is made doesn’t mean council can’t revisit it.
“If things change in October or next spring we can come back and add it on quite as easily as we are doing today.”
Granter agreed and said the ATV route in the city, which opened last summer, was started as a pilot program, was reviewed in the fall, and can be reviewed again.
When the question was called to accept the amendment presented by Carey, all but deputy mayor Bill Griffin voted in favour. Griffin is a resident of Georgetown Road and didn’t participate due to a conflict of interest.
As council then moved to voting on the now amended motion, Buckle indicated he thought the first vote was on the motion that included the two areas. When he was told it wasn’t, he said he was not in favour of it.
Before the amended motion was presented for vote, council had to decide if with Georgetown Road off the list was Griffin still in conflict. Chaisson was the only one to vote that he was.
All members of council then voted to approve the amended bylaw opening up Park Street, West Street, Todd Street, Chestnut Street, Confederation Drive, and Massey Drive to ATV use.
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
