ATV ban decision delayed

WASILLA — Members of the Wasilla City Council voted 6-0 Monday to postpone discussion on a proposal to ban all-terrain vehicle use in the city until they can hold a work session on the subject.

Representatives both in favor of and opposed to the ban spoke during the public comment section Monday. The work session wasn’t yet scheduled, but council members said it would include representatives from local business potentially affected by the ban. Opponents of the ban outnumbered supporters 20-5. The majority of speakers claimed to be city residents.

Councilman Brandon Wall cautioned against reading too much into those numbers.

“For everybody in the audience that is making mention of the fact that there’s a lot more folks here that are against this ban than are for it, these are the CAD complaints over ATVs for the last two years,” he said, and held up two packets of at least 100 pages each. “People in the city limits are ticked off about how ATVs are being ridden in the city.”

“I would really caution everybody here to really pay attention to that,” Wall added.

Whatever redress is put forward, Wall said he does not favor maintaining the status quo.

Others council members were a little more overt about their stance. Councilwoman Colleen Sullivan-Leonard said she couldn’t support the ban as it was presently worded.

The data provided by the Wasilla Police Department (she held up packets identical to those referred to by Wall) wasn’t coherently presented enough to make a clear decision or generalization, she said.

“What I really had asked for was statistical data, maybe a spreadsheet of some type that showed what type of calls had come in for ATV complaints, how many citations were issued, and instead I get all this,” she said.

The information provided showed an emphasis on education instead of citations, Sullivan-Leonard said.

“What good is a law if the police are not going to enforce it?” she said.

Council members initially appeared hesitant to even second councilwoman Gretchen O’Barr’s motion to move the ban forward. It eventually drew a second from David Wilson for the sake of discussion.

High passions on either side made the decision difficult, O’Barr said

“I’ve been agonizing over this for the last month,” she said. “This has been real painful for me, because no matter what I do I’m going to feel like I’ve been doing something wrong here.”

“I don’t think we’re penalizing anybody,” O’Barr added. “We’re just facing reality.”

Her constituents generally supported the ban, she said.

“I’m not necessarily for a ban, I’ve said that before,” O’Barr said. “I’m just not sure what to do about this because so many of my constituents are in favor of it.”

Wilson offered an amendment to the proposed ban in order to protect, he said, businesses using ATVs to plow sidewalks under contract with the city, for example, under the rubric of “commercial use.”

The amendment faced skepticism about enforcement from council members, who said enforcement of such broad language could be problematic.

That caused city attorney Richard Payne to suggest a work session to address the particulars.

“I’ll stay here as late as you want,” he quipped, but said it would take additional time to address the numerous details required for effective enforcement.

That, in turn, lead councilwoman Leone Harris to move the work session.

More than a dozen people signed up to speak at the meeting, though many were absent when their name was called. Of those who spoke, the majority were residents. Five of eight could generally be characterized as speaking against the ban, with the others speaking in favor. Five non-residents were unanimously opposed to the ban.

Supporters of the ban generally said the benefits of responsible ATV use aren’t worth the safety risks often seen around town, and that concerns about the ban’s potential economic impact are overblown, and that while many users are respectful, many are not responsible riders.

Other testimony, like that of Norm Fuller, rang with resignation for the way things were.

“The time has come, and like I tell my kids, all things must change,” he said.

Planes used to land in Iditapark, for example, a practice that would be viewed as unacceptable today, Fuller said.

“You could get your teeth cleaned and watch planes come and go,” he said.

Ban opponents, some of whom depend on ATV usage and rentals for their livelihood, say the ban wouldn’t have its intended results, or that riders would just ignore it anyway. They have said a licensing regime would make more sense.

Kolin Smith, an employee of the Team CC ATV Store in Wasilla, said he enjoyed riding both for work and play.

“I both personally and professionally feel that the ATV ban being proposed is not the ultimate solution for the problem we do face,” he said. “I would, just like (Alaska Toy Rental Thomas Hannam) be the first guy to admit that there is a problem.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com