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| 11/23/2007 8:31:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Hazelhurst to consider scaled-down ATV proposal
Proposal to designate major town roads for ATVs is off the table
Ed Culhane
Reporter
The question of whether to designate town roads in Hazelhurst for use by all-terrain vehicles has been put on hold until a committee can be formed to study the issue, town chairman Ted Cushing said.
At the town board's most recent meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 13, a dozen residents who live on two town roads being considered for ATV use spoke against the prospect. The agenda item referred to Cedar Falls and Lower Kaubashine roads. Some worried about noise in their rural neighborhoods, but most raised the issue of safety. They argued that ATV traffic was not appropriate on busy roads that serve as school bus routes.
However, Cushing said the proposal to designate these roads as ATV routes was already a moot point, mainly because they couldn't go anywhere.
An alternative idea - designating certain neighborhoods for local ATV traffic - was broached at the meeting, but couldn't be discussed because it was not on the agenda, Cushing said. It will be on the agenda when the board meets on Dec. 10. The question will be whether to form a committee to study the idea.
The initial proposal to designate town roads as ATV routes was brought to the board in October by Randy Ryden, owner of R&R Motorsports in Hazelhurst. At that meeting, more than a dozen residents said they were in favor of ATV routes.
The vision of area ATV enthusiasts is to designate town roads in Minocqua and Hazelhurst so that they link up with the extensive system of ATV routes in the towns of Little Rice and Lynne. They point to the rising popularity of ATVs and the economic benefits reportedly reaped by ATV-friendly towns in other northern counties. ATVs are surrounded by controversy, however. Opponents argue the roar of the engines disrupts the traditionally quiet character of the Northwoods and that off-road ATV use is damaging to the environment.
In any case, Cushing said, the proposal to designate Cedar Falls and Lower Kaubashine roads for ATV use was a non-starter. The routes would dead end at the Minocqua town line. The Minocqua town board has already nixed a proposal to create ATV routes into the town of Lynne.
Additionally, Cushing said Cedar Falls Road is scheduled for extensive rebuilding if a state transportation grant is obtained.
An alternative proposed by Ryden is to designate certain rural neighborhoods for ATV use so that residents could use them for short local trips and to access lake ice in the winter.
An example is the neighborhood called "The Leisure's," a network of six small lake-access roads off Hwy. Y. These have been designated as ATV routes for years.
"They are used as social vehicles in these little neighborhoods and to get on McKormick Lake," Cushing said. "Are there other areas where people can use them socially in their own little communities?"
That's the question the board will consider in December, Cushing said.
Ed Culhane can be reached at ed@lakelandtimes.com.
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