Valley Independent Sentinel

Shelton Cracks Down On ATVs and Dirtbikes

by Jodie Mozdzer | Aug 30, 2010 6:43 am

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Posted to: Shelton

ATV riders and dirtbikers: Consider yourselves warned.

The Shelton Trails and Conservation commissions and Shelton police are cracking down on the illegal use of city trails and open space for off-road recreation.

Their method: candid camera.

Photographic Proof

The city’s conservation agent, Teresa Gallagher, is asking hikers and residents who see people driving off-road vehicles on the trails to snap pictures and send them to her and the police.

Gallagher said she is also working with property owners surrounding city-owned open space to help block off ATV access to the trails — for example, by placing a felled tree in front of the trail entrance.

The ATVs damage trails, officials said.

The photographic proof that can help police officers identify repeat offenders, and can build a legal case for the Conservation Commission and Trails Committee if they decide to take the offenders to court.

“Pictures can prove that a certain person was on the conservation land,” Gallagher said. “We have files going, and in the future we might use this information.”

Gallagher said the Conservation Commission has on its side a relatively new state law, that allows local land agencies to file lawsuits against people who use trails and open space for ATV and dirtbike riding.

“If we continue to have problems and there’s a certain person or certain people we identify as continually breaking the law, and going in there no matter what we do, at that point we may be looking at a lawsuit,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher said under the law, the suit could result in a $5,000 fine, and payback of attorney fees.

“We don’t have to prove there was any actual damage,” Gallagher said. “We just have to prove they were riding there and they knew they couldn’t be.”

To that end, the trails committee has been placing “NO ATVs” signs around the trails. Gallagher said they have all been torn down.

Police Chief Joel Hurliman said the photographs help officers identify people who are breaking the law by riding their ATVs or dirtbikes on city land.

Officers can then go to the person’s house and issue a warning and explain that they can be arrested for trespassing, vandalism or driving an unregistered vehicle.

There are only a few pieces of public property in Connecticut where ATV riders and dirtbikers can legally ride. Click here to see a Department of Environmental Protection list of sanctioned riding zones.

Otherwise, riders must have permission to ride on private property, and must have the proper registration and training. Click here for more details about riding in the state.

Problems

Because of the lack of sanctioned facilities, off-road use of hiking trails and open space is a perennial problem in the region, Gallagher said.

In Shelton, the biggest problem right now is on the Birchbank Trails, along the Housatonic River off Birchbank Road.

Trail evidence suggests that the people are riding to the trails — which are city owned — from backyard paths that cut up the steep hills up to the White Hills section of Shelton, Gallagher said.

They then travel into Monroe by way of the railroad tracks, and cross the Housatonic at the Stevenson Dam to Oxford, she said.

“It’s a big regional problem,” Gallagher said.

The riding disturbs the natural flowers and vegetation around the trails and causes erosion in places, Gallagher said.

Chief Hurliman said it’s also a public safety issue because riders can get hurt or hurt others.

Send photos to conservation@cityofshelton.org or call the police department at (203) 924-1544 to report problems.

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