Wasilla ATV petition collects 2,000 signatures

WASILLA — An organizer of a petition asking the City Council not to instate a ban on all-terrain vehicle use in the city limits says the effort had thus far collected more than 2,000 signatures.

Thomas Hannam, who owns Alaska Toy Rental, and authored the petition, estimates it could cost his business about $300,000 per year — or a quarter of his rental business — if an ATV ban were to pass, primarily in rentals to take ATVs up the popular Bald Mountain Trail.

The city Planning Commission recommended the rule change as a way to reduce damage to property and traffic violations in the borough, as well as a way to reduce police time spent on ATV regulation enforcement. If enacted, Wasilla would join Palmer, which banned ATVs on the streets in the 1990s.

Hannam circulated his petition at about 10 spots, primarily places like CC Ski Doo in Wasilla, where one copy of the petition had collected between 50 and 60 signatures Monday afternoon.

Hannam said he would like to circulate the petition more widely, but said he doesn’t yet have the manpower, even if he has the political support.

“I know there’s strong enough support in the community” to eliminate the ban, he said. “People are frantic over the mayor’s decisions and his actions. I think it’s lost faith in (Mayor Verne Rupright).”

While Hannam acknowledges that some ATV drivers do ride irresponsibly within the city limits, he said the ban would be counterproductive.

“My thought right now is do you cut a chicken’s head off because he got into the cookie jar, or do you maybe move the cookie jar to where he can’t get into it?” he said.

Rupright’s support of the ban was childish, Hannam said.

“He’s flying off the handle instead of anything that had any kind of common sense or any kind of substance to it,” he said.

Rupright, for his part, questioned whether the collected signatures were actually from Wasilla residents or borough residents.

“Maybe they are, maybe they’re, not,” he said. “If they are, what they need to do is put that on a referendum. This is a city issue, not a borough issue.”

“We’ve got a problem with enforcement,” Rupright added. He said ATVs are “driving on sidewalks, driving on streets. It’s a public safety issue. What do you do with that? You gotta’ address it.”

Rupright also disputed Hannam’s estimate of potential monetary lost, saying he believed that the majority of rentals were transported by trailer to local trailheads.

“If the city council doesn’t have the political courage to vote for it, they don’t,” he said.

Hannam and other supporters say they planned to attend the July 28 meeting of the Wasilla City Council.

Organizers of a Facebook group opposing the ban said Monday they were unsure whether or not they would go forward with the idea of a mass ride-in to the council meeting to protest the issue.

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