Dave Drummond, 805 Silver Creek Road, disputes some of the other concerns and thinks people blame 4 wheelers for problems they don’t create. He is in favor of the route. Cheryl Koski, owner of Creative Interiors on the corner of US-41 and Basal Road, is opposed to the connector route. Basal is narrow with no shoulders, creating a hazard for users of the road. ORVs travel in groups and disrupt business activity with their presence and noise. It is a dangerous intersection. ORVs don’t have identification so they can’t turn them in for improperly using their parking lot. It is a safety risk. The Township should provide adequate parking for the users to trailer their vehicles to access the trails. Ray Wood, 1777 M-28 E, uses the roads frequently as a cyclist. The shoulders are in poor repair already and this would make it worse. He is also concerned about safety with mixed users. Mangum Road is narrow, winding, and has line of sight issues. Skip Schulz, President of U.P. ORV Trail Development Association, hears the same frequent concerns from the minority. He disputes the basis for safety concerns based on the low frequency of incidents compared to the number of total users. To the residents along the road, he said, “It’s a public road”. If you want something different you can live on a private road. He supports a controlled and managed route that can be enforced. Otherwise, people will use it anyway. It’s already against the law for youth to ride. People break the law. Motorists also break the law by speeding, but we don’t make cars illegal. The sport will exist whether people like it or not. The majority of riders are 52 year olds on side-bysides. This is one way to bring people to and through the community. It doesn’t make sense that people can say they want to drive their car from here to Detroit but they don’t want ORV people to ride from one end of the U.P. to the other. That’s selfish. He promoted working together. Leanne Hatfield, 724 Greenfield Road, mentioned the petition against the proposal in her neighborhood. She heard every family on Mangum Road is opposed. She mentioned the many non-motorized users and safety concerns on the road. She said the economy would be better if everyone in the room bought local and supported local businesses. The directly affected landowners are opposed. Domenic Ori, 293 County Road 480, is concerned about the safety of nonmotorized users utilizing the road shoulder. Is he supposed to jump in the ditch or in the road when meeting an ORV on the shoulder? He supported the bike connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. He is not opposed to ATV people if they ride in the right place, but is opposed to them using the road shoulder. Jerry Labine, 6408 US-41, suggested putting the trail on prison property. Debby Mahin, 774 Greenfield Road, is concerned about safety. Residents contribute a lot to taxes, and she is not sure about the contribution from ORV users. Page 8 of 13 Katie Beerman, 150 Mangum Road, was born and raised there. She thinks regulations will not be enforceable. The packet does not mention that the Township is not immune from liability arising from gross negligence. If the Township does not listen to the safety concerns of residents, then it may constitute gross negligence. She doesn’t care what other jurisdictions do – our Township is different and that’s what makes it special, that’s what brings tourism here. The Township Comprehensive Plan supports her position. She thinks the Planning Commission is the representative of the residents, and should listen to the majority. Chris Hamari, 114 Mangum Road, worked very hard on the petition opposing the route. They have ORVs and enjoy riding, but trailer them to private property. They are not the minority position. There are not that many complaints simply because residents don’t bother to complain, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t incidents. You can’t see how old riders are with helmets on. Citizens should help the police by turning in complaints. She invited the Commission to speak for them. Dale Hamari, 114 Mangum Road, tried to find a compromise. He noted there may not be problems with ORVs on the roads in other jurisdictions because they have other places to ride. When pedestrians hear cars coming behind them, they get off the road. ORVs won’t be able to get off the road safely on Mangum because it’s narrow with no shoulders. Be consistent with the non-motorized focus of the Township Plan. He submitted a plan for an alternate route to the Commission. John Kurkowski, 249 W. Ridge St. Marquette, speaking on behalf of M.A.P.S. and Cherry Creek School, asks the Commission to consider the impact of the route on the school and the children traveling to the school. Don Houghton?, 21 year resident on Kawbawgam Road, said there is ORV and snowmobile use already, you can’t stop the traffic. His concern is that snowmobiles will go faster than ORVs. Donald Dameworth, 550 Mangum Road, 96% of residents on the road oppose this route, not counting the connecting road residents that use the route on a daily basis. Some of the other 4% that did not sign were out of town. Public comment was closed. Commissioner Discussion Mahaney said that of the signatures that were collected, there were approximately 189 residents opposed and 35 in favor. He notes the predominance of the opposition, and based on the information presented, he is opposed to the proposal. Heinzelman also noted the overwhelming opposition from the affected area. He also noted the safety concerns of the Chief of Police, and he has personal experience in enforcement difficulties. Paved roads are not a safe environment for ORVs. There are enough concerns on the roads between motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and deer, and this will be that much more distraction. He also noted the vast variety of vehicles considered to be ORVs vs. ATVs. This should be more definitive. It’s a hard sell for him especially with all the opposition
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 04:58:33 +0000
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