This Town Meeting Day, at least four Vermont municipalities, , , and , will ask voters whether their select boards should consider allowing all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, on their roads.
ATVs are not allowed on state roads, nor are they allowed on town roads in municipalities that haven鈥檛 explicitly allowed them. But in recent years more towns have opted to allow ATVs on their roads as a way to allow riders to drive between trail networks and to local businesses.
Highgate in September allowing ATV use on some town roads during part of the year. Their Town Meeting Day ordinance asks voters whether the select board should consider expanding that to include all town roads.
Orwell and Fletcher currently do not allow ATVs on any town roads. Their ordinances ask voters whether the select board should consider crafting regulations for the first time.
Voters in Danby will also be asked to vote on whether to advise the select board there to open some or all town roads to ATVs.
Tommy O鈥機onnor with the Vermont ATV Sportsman鈥檚 Association, or VASA, says towns and voters should think hard about whether they have the resources to support ATV use in their community, including providing proper signage and enforcement.
鈥淒o you have the budget to maintain the roads?鈥� O鈥機onnor said. 鈥淏ecause just like other motor vehicles, you know, any type of traffic is going to 鈥� show wear and tear on the roads, particularly dirt, class IV, things like that.鈥�
VASA doesn鈥檛 advise that towns open all their roads to ATV use. O鈥機onnor recommends that select boards commission studies of where people are riding and where the community supports the activity before writing an ordinance.
The question of where ATVs should be allowed has proven controversial in some parts of the state, leading to heated debate about where the vehicles should operate.
Proponents of the sport say it draws out-of-state visitors to rural communities, where they purchase meals and spend money at local businesses. They say with good local regulations and enforcement, the ATV riders can have minimal impact on other recreational users and residents.
Opponents say some riders behave recklessly by speeding or ignoring traffic laws and create a noise nuisance in places they value for their quiet and tranquility. They raise questions about increased wear on local roads and whether small towns 鈥� especially those without local police forces 鈥� have the ability to enforce the rules they propagate.
A petition signed by 61 Orwell residents put ATV access to roads on this year鈥檚 Town Meeting Day ballot, but the town has been examining the issue for several years.
A 2021 town survey with 99 respondents found residents who oppose ATV use on town roads .
At a special townwide meeting about the matter last spring, Orwell residents appeared divided.
Peter Root of Orwell was one of many residents who wrote to the select board in June urging them not to allow ATVs.
鈥淚 respectfully urge that we not loosen restrictions on ATV traffic in town, as I believe many of us will find our experience here diminished by the noise and exhaust fumes that we鈥檒l be forced to endure,鈥� he wrote.
But other residents wrote to offer their support, including Michael Heibler, who said he鈥檇 like to be able to ride his side-by-side from his home to the neighboring town of Benson.
鈥淢y friends and I used to ride ATVs in town 40 years ago and never bothered anyone,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淲e were courteous to horse riders and walkers.鈥�
Voters in Fletcher, Orwell, Highgate and Danby will cast their votes Tuesday by Australian ballot. The ballot items constitute a sort of straw vote, polling residents about whether the select board should consider new regulations allowing ATVs in more places 鈥� but they don鈥檛 require an ordinance or mean ATVs will necessarily be allowed.
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