RIDE-CT.com

Trails for ATV Riders

May Prompt User Fee

By Bud Wilkinson

Buyers of all-terrain vehicles in Connecticut would be required to pay a “trail user fee” as part of a bill being considered by the state legislature that would simultaneously require the Department of Environmental Protection to set aside at least 20 miles of trails for use by riders of quads and dirt bikes.

The legislature’s Environment Committee held a public hearing Wednesday on the bill.

Aside from the federal land set aside for dirt biking at Thomaston Dam and private property, ATV riders in Connecticut have no place to enjoy off-road riding. The legislature passed a law in 1986 requiring the D.E.P. to provide state land for ATV use. However, 22 years later, no land has ever been opened up to off-road riders.

Under the proposed bill, the D.E.P. would select and set aside four trails of at least five miles each for ATV use by January 1, 2009. ATV dealers would collect a trail user fee from new buyers equivalent to one percent of the total purchase price of the vehicle, above and beyond the required sales tax. Given the MSRP of dirt bikes and quads, the fee would likely range from $25 to $80.

The money would go into an account with the D.E.P. mandated to use as much as 70 percent of the collected fees for trail selection, design, alteration, maintenance and repair. If passed by the legislature, the law would take effect July 1.

Lewis Davidson, president of the Connecticut Motorsports Business Association, praised the D.E.P. on Tuesday for pushing the legislation. “They have stepped up the plate,” he said, calling the proposed law “a fair and constructive solution” that, if passed, will finally give off-roaders multiple places to enjoy the recreation.

Expected to express concerns about the bill at today’s hearing are conservation groups, including the Connecticut Forests and Parks Association as well as the Connecticut chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Adam Moore, executive director of the Connecticut Forests and Parks Association, explained his group opposition. “The chief reason is the bill doesn’t contain any provision for universal registration and identification of ATVs. We’d like them all to have an identification number of the side, so if you observed one crossing your property without permission, you could take down the number. We feel that’s pretty important.”

Moore also noted that the proposed law only addresses new ATVs and ignores those already owned by state residents. There are an estimated 70,000 ATVs in Connecticut – 20,000 dirt bikes and 50,000 quads.

Davidson agrees that the bill needs to be polished. “There are parts of the bill that I’d like to see different but, on the whole, I’m happy that D.E.P. has stepped forward and made some kind of gesture.”

The CMBA does maintain the proposed law will benefit conservationists. “I honestly believe this is a good law for them, because now these people have a designated area to ride legally in Connecticut. They’re not going to tear up trust land. They’re not going to tear up state parks,” said Davidson.

He added, "Every person in the state of Connecticut has a voice and every person in the state of Connecticut has a right to use the assets of the state to their fullest.”  

RIDE-CT.com is a complement to the RIDE-CT motorcycle column that runs each Saturday in "The Republican-American" newspaper in Waterbury. Visit the newspaper's web site at rep-am.com.