PARIS — Members of the X-Tra Mile ATV Club accused the Paris Board of Selectmen of forcing them through more red tape than other group by asking them to fill out an application to temporarily ride ATVs on two town roads.
Cliff Goodwin of the ATV club has requested the club be allowed to use sections of East Oxford Road and Parsons Road between June 1 and June 30 while the club completes maintenance on a section of trail that opened in 2011 to circumvent those roads. In 2012, the club got permission to use the roads in June to maintain the trail. They completed the work in two weeks.
When Town Manager Amy Bernard recommended the board require the club to complete a non-standard use application, Goodwin and his son, ATV club trailmaster John Goodwin, said the non-standard use policy unfairly targeted the ATV club.
“Nobody in this town, except for the X-Tra Mile ATV Club, has ever had to fill out this form,” Cliff Goodwin said. “You have parades every year. They don’t do it.
“If you insist, we’ll fill it out,” he said.
Vice Chairman Robert Kirchherr disagreed and said there have been at least three instances in which the form was used by parties other than the ATV club. When parties complete the non-standard use form, the town informs abutters of the road or property in question that the non-standard use is planned.
John Goodwin said parades and other functions use public streets without using the form. The board agreed to look into the issue. Goodwin said the club would be watching, and said the club “will note it” if the board doesn’t require all groups to use the non-standard use form.
Parsons Road resident Paula Hakala, who complained in 2010 when the club first began riding past her home, said the club shouldn’t be granted permission to use the road again.
“What is the reason for the request this year? It hasn’t been a particularly wet season,” Hakala said. She said ATVs in the street are noisy and they drove in the middle of the road, where they were in danger of being hit by cars.
The board tabled the issue and asked the ATV club to turn in the non-standard use form by the May 28 meeting so that it could grant permission.
treaves@sunjournal.com
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- Members of the X-Tra Mile ATV Club have requested permission to use Parsons Road and East Oxford Road through the month of June while they complete maintenance on a trail that was finished in 2011 to circumvent those roads.
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