CARA Corner: ATVs on Clearview roads, trails

Clearview needs a bylaw that expressly prohibits recreational off-road vehicle (ORV) use on roads in the various settlement areas, on high traffic volume roads like our north-south lines and on Clearview’s trails and unopened road allowances.
When the provincial government announced that it would eventually be removing the general prohibition against all ORVs on municipal roads (unless permitted by a local bylaw), the government expressed the opinion that municipalities are in the best position to decide if and how off-road vehicles can be safely integrated into their own communities. In other words, there would not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Nor would on road ORV use be mandatory. Instead the local councils, listening to their residents, were given the responsibility for making the best local choices.
What do Chris Lawrie and Councillor John Broderick (the local ATV/ORV dealer and a longtime director of the Ontario Federation of ATV clubs) see as the appropriate local choice? Access to all roads and all trails in Clearview, expressly including in all settlement areas (Creemore, New Lowell, Duntroon, Nottawa, Singhampton, Stayner and Sunnidale Corners.) What does this mean? Large and noisy ATVs and ORVs charging up and down in front of your houses and along Mill Street at all hours of the day and night, if Councillor Broderick gets his way! As we know, many of our Creemore streets and the nearby sideroads do not have sidewalks, so allowing reckless ATV/ORV drivers on our municipal roads presents a significant safety hazard to local residents.
Walkers and cyclists currently enjoy access to a number of trails in Clearview Township, including the Bruce Trail and its offshoots, the Clearview EcoPark Loop, the Clearview Collingwood Train Trail spanning from Collingwood to Stayner, and the 250-metre Clearview Story Book Trail that has storyboards approximately 30 inches from the ground, perfect for young children to look at the pictures and read the stories. Go to www.discoverclearview.ca for a description of all trails in Clearview Township. Why endanger walkers and cyclists and ruin these trails by giving access to these trails to ATVs and even larger side-by-sides?
Municipalities were also given the power to prohibit ATV/ORV use outright. All ATV/ORV use on municipal roads and trails is prohibited in Collingwood, Mulmur, Essa, King, Mono, Selwyn and Tiny townships, being municipalities with councils that value public safety, rural character and environmental integrity.
If local ATV users were being reasonable, they would not be demanding ATV/ORV access to all the trails and all residential roads and all unopened road allowances. In 2017, the reasonable ATV users asked for a specific and limited route that excluded all settlement areas and all trails, and the former Clearview Council agreed to permit such limited access. The balance represented in that compromise decision should remain in effect.
Tell Mayor Doug Measures, Deputy Mayor Burton and your local Councillor: No ORVs on Creemore and surrounding area roads and trails.

CARA Corner is authored by Greg Young and Val Dyer, and submitted on behalf of the Creemore Area Residents’ Association. Visit, creemoreresidents.ca.