Council to look at public consultation, with a decision by next spring
“I believe we’re missing out on a great economic opportunity when we look at the number of ATV’s that are going to other communities and stopping at the bars and restaurants and so forth. We need to work with those organizations and somehow devise a plan that will allow them to get to the River Pub or the Pizza Delights or Pizza Hut and McDonald’s,” said Mayor Jeff Wright. “There’s talk of using the TransCanada Trail, but I do know that there’s opposition to that as well. A lot of people view that as a walking trail and don’t want motorized vehicles on it.”
During Woodstock’s Town Council meeting on Sept. 8, Mayor Wright told council that he and some committee members recently met with Quad NB, the Snowmobile Federation and the local ATV club. The main point of discussion was their desire to make Woodstock more accessible.
“Obviously there’s interest on behalf of their club to get access to or around our community via ATV’s,” said Mayor Wright. “We’ve had some concerned citizens talk about not wanting ATV traffic on the TransCanada Trail, which we only own a small portion of.”
The former council ran a pilot project a few years ago to explore allowing more ATV access to the town, but ultimately rescinded the bylaw. Executive members of Quad NB told Mayor Wright during their meeting that out of the 37 communities that looked into it, Woodstock was the only one to rescind.
Deputy Mayor Mark Rogers was a member of the former council and was asked for his insight about the project.
“It was basically just to gather information for the most part and see how it went,” explained Rogers. “At the end of the day, the previous council was of the opinion that the province really needs to step up to the plate and come up with a plan because we could only control the streets of Ward 4.”
Rogers said that once those drivers were outside Ward 4, it was no longer legal to be on those streets. The former council felt that, to avoid confusion, it made more sense for the province to create a consistent province-wide plan rather than for each municipality to set its own rules.
Councillor Scott Dunlop pointed out that with the expansion of the local police force’s boundaries into the surrounding wards, this might be the perfect opportunity to reconsider the rules on ATV’s.
CAO Allan Walker explained that policing was one of the challenges that came up while doing the pilot project. They found it difficult to enforce the rules for those who went off the designated roads. Police will not chase ATVs because it is unsafe.
“The enforcement side is very difficult,” said Walker. “We understand that’s a small minority; the vast amount of users are very law-abiding, but it’s that small minority that really concerns the Woodstock Police Department on the enforcing side of it.”
Mayor Wright pointed out that Carleton North is currently reviewing the transportation act and the trails to see if they can allow ATV’s access to their community, and he feels that Woodstock should look into it again too.
“We need to sit down and see if we can figure out a way. Maybe we can’t, but I think other communities are doing it, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it the most effective, safe way that we can, because I think there is an economic spin-off for sure,” said Mayor Wright. “There is a strong desire to make it happen, but there’s also opposition. So we’ve got to take both views into account.”
Council decided to look into the matter further, including public consultation, and make a final decision by next spring.
