Author: admin

Greetings all,

It would seem that the Grand River Conservation Authority is very close to aquiring lands adjacent to Chilligo from the Ministry of Transportation. This will expand the current conservation area by about one third.

This is good news as GRCA lands are environmentally protected better than MTO lands.

We are informed that the proposition will be presented at the next GRCA General Membership Meeting. This will be on August 22nd, 9:30 AM at the GRCA Administration Centre, 400 Clyde Rd., Cambridge.

Delegations may present, but permission must be obtained prior to meeting agendas being set.

Information on how GRCA meetings work can be found here, and the report will be here.

 

Regards,

Some Friends of Chilligo

 

It would appear that the problem in our area is that ATV riders are just plain ignorant of the law or have been misled by the staff of the stores that sell these things that anything goes. Wrong! We urge the offenders to contact the Ontario Federation Of ATV Clubs to become educated. Driving ATV’s along railways, roadways, roadsides, waterways, residential streets or in parks and nature preserves is not OK. The following comes directly from an article that appeared in Sudbury’s “Northern Life.ca” written by Wendy Bird.

“People are under the impression that it’s OK to access area trails by taking these side roads and they’re not going to bother anyone,” said Constable Bert Lapalme, media relations officer with the Greater Sudbury Police Service.

“But according to the highway traffic act, ATVs do not meet the definition of a motor vehicle. Therefore they are not permitted on any road, street, highway, or anything else that is defined by the highway traffic act as being a highway.”

This means riding in ditches alongside a highway, or riding on the shoulder of a road is also illegal.

“At this point in time the only place people can legally ride their ATV is on Crown land. Legally a person needs to either throw their ATV in a trailer or in the back of a truck and bring it out to Crown land or any private property that they either own or have written permission to use,” he said.

“We’ve had concerns with ATVs for years,” LaPalme said. “But especially now as they’ve become more popular. We’re going to see more enforcement and more patrolling since the formation of the rural squad that was created in last six months.” Recently police spotted a group of four ATVs and their drivers stopped on the side of a road in the Hanmer area. As they were about to pull over and talk to the drivers, the group drove off. One of the ATV operators stopped a short distance away and was subsequently issued a ticket for unlawfully driving an off-road motor vehicle on a highway.

Later that day the officers located the other riders and all three were charged with “escape by flight,” careless driving and unlawfully driving an off-road motor vehicle on a highway. The fine for “escape by flight” ranges from $10,000 to $25,000 and/or six months in jail. The offenders were 17 to 23 years of age.

But Smith concedes that people are legitimately confused about where they can and cannot ride.

“Just because there isn’t a no-trespassing sign or a fence up, that doesn’t give (a person) the right to run across these peoples’ property. But there are a lot of people out there that don’t realize they are driving across private property,” he said.

There ya have it.

Well it looks like the post concerning the MTO lands ruffled a few feathers at our City Council. But that’s fine as some important facts have come to light which we must report to set matters straight.

According to Alderman Gary Price the City has been dealing with the ATV problem and for the past five or six years has been attempting to purchase the lands from the MTO. They however are not ready to sell it.

Alex Koch, Co-ordinator of Design and Development with the City is quoted as saying ” I did not know that they were talking to MTO. If they can get MTO to put up signs – that would be great”.

Carol Kinzie who works with the City(I’m afraid we are unaware of her exact job title),  is quoted as saying “On March 17, 2006 (after reading an article about all terrain vehicle use destroying Chilligo), I contacted the MTO to advise them of the article and expressed the City’s concerns with the improper use and damage to area. At that time, I urged the MTO staff person that we work diligently towards a purchase by the City so that the lands could be better managed and hopefully reduce the amount of destruction.” She goes on to say that she has been in touch with Mr Warner at the MTO concerning the interest that the City and the GRCA has in purchasing the lands but has had little response.

So there you have it. We’re hopeful that things are moving along. Our apologies for quoting e-mails but we are confident that nothing quoted here is secret or offensive.