Report brings hope to ATV enthusiasts

Four-wheeler riders can't wait to attend a meeting next week in which the county parks department will list possible locations for legal riding areas and ask for input.

BY YUDY PINEIRO
ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com

January 14, 2007

County parks administrators feared off-road vehicle riders left with few places to legally ride would eventually destroy environmentally sensitive lands such as the Everglades.

So they hired a consultant last year to search for open spaces to build trails.

Just in: Preliminary results of the study.

Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation officials will present 16 possible locations for four-wheeler use at a workshop to be held 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 24 at John D. Campbell Agricultural Center Auditorium, 18710 SW 288th St.

The county would not reveal highlights of the draft report.

''We just want to share it all at one time with the public,'' said Andy McCall, a park planner with the county.

McCall said the county will listen to and jot down feedback from the public, off-road vehicle enthusiasts and outside government agencies.

Then, in the following months, they'll formulate a final list of possible sites based on the comments, and present it to the Miami-Dade Commission for final approval.

Off-road enthusiasts just want to get the process over with so they can ride -- without worrying about getting ticketed or hurt.

''We just want a legal place to ride so we can get these kids off the roads and have some good family fun,'' said Leo Lopez, owner of atvmiaxtreme.com, a website for riders.

For the past year, riders from across the county have embarked on a relentless campaign to find legal and safe places to ride. Enthusiasts have lobbied county and state elected officials, organized rallies and gathered with local planners.

Last April, frustrated enthusiasts and off-road vehicle vendors held a protest about the lack of riding areas at a West Kendall road that used to be a popular site to practice the sport until police started issuing citations.

They argued it was unfair that though the state benefits from the sales tax on riding gear like helmets and gloves, trailers and ATVs -- which on average cost more than $5,000 -- it does not grant them much land to use them.

At the demonstration Barbara Falsey, chief of planning and research for the county's parks department, and McCall told the group about the plans to conduct a study with $75,000 in grant money from the state's sales profit from ATV titles.

And in August, more than 100 riders converged at an Off-Highway Vehicles Advisory Committee meeting run by the Florida Division of Forestry sporting T-shirts and posters with messages. The most common: ``Over 2,700 ATVs sold in District 11 and nowhere to ride.''

Ocala was the closest legal riding area -- until a new state law went into effect in October that allowed ATVs on unpaved county roads with speed limits below 35 mph.

Riders say it helped but doesn't fix the problem, especially since the County Commission has the option to opt out of the law. Several counties have done so.

''Things are happening,'' said Cary Hernandez, a West Kendall area ATV rider who has been leading the charge. ``They're happening slowly, but they're happening.''

Miami-Dade riders hope the Jan. 24 meeting brings good news, similar to what their friends to the west recently received when commissioners in Collier County agreed to let them temporarily use 150 acres of open land while they clean up a 620-acre permanent site.

But if they don't get what they want, Lopez said, ``we're going to keep pushing it, because we're not going to let our tax dollars go down the drain.''

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