Monday, February 17th, 2025

It was a narrow decision Monday when Clearview council denied ATV users access to township roads.

Members of the Central Ontario ATV Club were in the gallery at town hall in Stayner Monday for the 4-3 vote that defeated a staff recommendation to allow ATV access on all township roads, except four.

Back in January Club director Soren Klemmensen asked council to consider opening the roads to allow ATVs to travel from trail to trail and get into urban areas to purchase fuel, visit restaurants and stores and find accommodation. After Wasaga Beach opened its roads, the club was hoping Clearview would follow suit in order to connect to other municipalities.

Clearview conducted a survey to gauge public opinion but some council members did not have faith in the results. In May and June, 647 township residents answered the survey and 51.8 per cent said ATVs should be allowed on all the roadways, 19 per cent said ATVs should be allowed on some roadways and 29.2 per cent said ATVs should not be given access to township roads.

Councillor Thom Paterson said because 60 per cent of the respondents said they currently own an ATV he questioned if that is a fair representation of the township as a whole.

He also said that the staff recommendation from manager of transportation and drainage Gerry LeMay did not reflect council’s direction to look at specific routes to facilitate connections and instead opened almost all the roads except Fairgrounds Road, Concession 6, Centre Line Road and 3/4 Sideroad Sunnidale. (The County of Simcoe does not allow ATVs to use county roads).

Paterson said he was hoping for a definitive report on what those routes would be that would connect ATV riders to services in settlement areas, saying it is “impractical and unwise” to open all roads. He said he hears about the economic impact of ATV users but has no indication of what it is.

Councillor Robert Walker said without access to the north-south roads the ATVs can’t get to Creemore anyway.

“We need to move forward with this decision, it has been on our plate for some time,” said Walker.

Councillor Doug Measures was also in favour of granting ATV access saying the roads are for recreation as well as vehicles.

“The results show a bylaw is needed and will help improve behavior,” said Measures.

“I have real concerns about this,” said Deputy Mayor Barry Burton. He asked, how the township would ensure that the ATV riders using the trail would be respectable members of the club and would follow the rules.

“There should be specific routes. It’s too big,” said Burton. “More work needs to be done. The ask was to get from trail to trail and it looks like our roads are becoming the trail.”

Burton said he attended town hall meeting this year where many people were objecting to ATVs on roads.

“I’m not opposed to it. I don’t think we’ve done enough homework. I believe there is a compromise and a solution,” he said.

Councillor Kevin Elwood said of those who have talked to him about the issue, more people have been opposed to ATV access than not. He said he uses ATVs for work but can’t understand why people would want to travel on roads unless they were misusing the vehicles as transportation.

“It’s clearly stated on the tires and in the operator’s manual that it is not meant to be driven on the roads,” said Elwood. He said they can be very dangerous and can result in serious injuries. “If ATVers want to kill themselves, sure, but [on the roads] other community members become involved.”

There was a motion to defer the decision put forward by Paterson and a motion to approve a one-year trial period put forward by Councillor Connie Leishman but neither passed.

Leishman said she has heard from people on both sides of the issue but was not willing to support the change unless it was on a trial basis.

Councillor Shawn Davidson said he doesn’t think the road omissions had been thought out well because they block access to existing trails in county forests and Bear Alley near Avening.

“I don’t think this will work out well,” said Davidson adding that the Niagara Escarpment Commission limits ATV use on escarpment lands.

“It’s not a good idea but it’s an idea that’s here and there is a will to do it,” he said.

When it came time for the vote, Davidson, Walker and Measure voted to open the roads to ATVs. Paterson, Elwood, Burton and Leishman were opposed. With Mayor Chris Vanderkruys and Councillor Deborah Bronee not in attendance for the vote, it was defeated.

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