Neillsville City Council Discusses ATV Ordinance
Friday, May 17th, 2019 -- 12:39 PM
-The Neillsville City Council discussed the city’s ATV ordinance at their meeting on Tuesday.This conversation came about as new state law allows ATV’s/UTV’s to drive on county roads with approval from the Wisconsin DOT. For example, all county trunk roads in Clark County are now open to ATV’s. Most communities in Clark County had some established routes throughout the city, but with the change in law, some communities have considered opening up all of their roads to ATVs. For example, Greenwood has all of their roads open to ATV/UTV’s with the exception of Main Street. Neillsville is also discussing the idea of opening up more of their streets to ATVs/UTVs. There were many people in attendance at the meeting on Tuesday, split between some for and others against. Some of the main reasons brought up against opening more streets to ATVs/UTVs included concerns about noise, speeding, accidents, increase traffic and the age of riders as you only have to be 12 years old to get a license and operate an ATV. Some in attendance said that in spots where it is legal to ride ATV’s in the city, there are already instances of speeding and other issues with ATV riders.
Those in support of the idea believed it will help businesses that ATV’s don’t have access to right now, will provide better directions and signage for riders, will increase tourism, help with legality issues riders have now and it will be fair for everybody. Most council members were in agreement saying they were willing to explore the idea of opening some roads in the city to ATV/UTV use, but not all of them. They also want to try and help the businesses in any way they can. No action was taken on the ordinance on Tuesday, but a group will be formed to discuss how to make changes to the ordinance.
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