LITTLE EGG HARBOR — A proposed park for riding dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles will help solve local problems with noise and illegal riding, said Dale Freitas, director of the nonprofit Atlantic Off-Highway Vehicle Park, as zoning officials and local residents grilled him in a special Board of Adjustment meeting Tuesday night dedicated to the proposed facility off Thomas Avenue.
The questioning extended late into the evening, as police Capt. Richard Buzby challenged Freitas' contention that the proposed park can be self-sustaining with minimal demands on police and emergency services.
The now-closed New Jersey Off-road Vehicle Park near Chatsworth saw more than 300 first aid calls in the four years before it closed its 10-year run in 2008, Buzby said. But that's because the park's design was limited by state Pinelands Commission restrictions that prevented volunteer staffers from modifying the courses, said Freitas, a longtime rider and off-road event organizer from Burlington who was involved in starting the Chatsworth facility.
Freitas now is closely involved with lobbying in Trenton between the off-road community and environmental groups, who have an understanding to support legislation to tighten enforcement on illegal riding in exchange for new, legal public riding facilities.
"If you're going to regulate something, you need to find solutions where there's a legal outlet for this kind of recreation," Freitas said. Without a new off-road park, "it would be very hard to get this problem under control," he added.
The proposed park would be funded through the state Green Acres program, grants for motorized recreation from the Federal highway Administration and the state Economic Development Authority, he said.
Location called ideal
Southern Ocean County "is ground zero for this kind of use," between the local popularity of all-terrain vehicles or ATVs, and the access the Garden State Parkway affords for riders from other parts of New Jersey who are looking for trails in the Pine Barrens, he said.
The 120-acre site off Thomas Avenue is now owned by Shoreline Materials, a sand and gravel supplier operated by area businessman Joseph Filloon. Freitas explained the proposed layout to board members, referring to color graphic plans prepared by engineers Taylor, Wiseman and Taylor of Mount Laurel.
"This isn't a motocross track or a racetrack. . . . It's a recreational park," Freitas said. It will be "a combination of trails and a what might be called a motocross-style track," Freitas said. He likened the facility to the groomed trails at a ski resort, with similar safety procedures and staff to keep riders safe.
"This won't be a seven-days-a-week operation," he said. Riding trails would be open Friday through Sunday until around 4 p.m., with some safety training by appointment for groups during the week. Residents of Little Egg Harbor, Eagleswood and Tuckerton would be able to register for a reduced user fee, similar to the smaller Police Athletic League riding facility in Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic County, he said.
A first step for users will be to check in at a visitor center, paying the fee and undergoing a training session on safety and environmental issues associated with off-road riding, Freitas said.
"A lot of times they people who operate these things don't understand their impact on the environment or their communities. They buy an ATV from a dealer and go out and ride it," he said. "Basically everyone who comes to this facility is going to be required to take this course."
From parking areas to be built on an old unpaved airstrip, riders would check in and have their machines inspected by a staffer to ensure the engine noise meets 94- to 96-decibel limits, Freitas said.
Townspeople sound off
Noise was much on the mind of several residents at the hearing. Gary Chavan said dirt bike riders use an old sand pit near his Stage Road home: "From a mile away I can hear it, and it's the most annoying thing."
Freitas proposed that having a park in town would help overall noise problems, because local riders would have a reason to keep their machines within the park's limits. Closest to the parking areas would be trails for youth minicycles and novice ATV riders, who use smaller displacement engines that are quieter, Freitas said. More advanced riders with bigger machines would ride trails deeper inside the property, he said. For a three-mile trail loop, probably 20 to 30 riders could be accommodated at a time, he estimated.
The very youngest riders would use a "peewee" course on an open sand pit area, he said.
Resident Debra Versheck questioned "what's to keep someone from driving off the trails?" At the Chatsworth park, Freitas said, "there very very few excursions from the park. . . . The penalty for that would be banishment from the facility."
Fred Akers of the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association questioned if off-road parks reduce illegal riding. Akers has been a critic of another proposed new park on Green Acres land in Gloucester County.But Freitas said the proof was apparent around the Chatsworth park; once heavily used trails along Route 72 have since regrown with native vegetation, he said.
Several residents questioned why the plan does not show complete fencing around the property. Freitas said the extent of fencing still needs to be determined as part of the site plan, but as a Green Acres property there has to be enough open public access to the tract.
Other uses possible
Planners originally discussed operating the Thomas Avenue tract as a joint-use facility that would also accommodate hikers, horseback riders and mountain bicycles, but they realized "that would be problematical" from a safety and insurance perspective to have all those users using the same trails at the same time.
When there's no vehicle use ongoing, the property will be open for other recreational uses, and it will be open during the fall and winter hunting season, Freitas said.
Board vice chairman Robert Hart asked about safety during deer season. "If a hunter doesn't see a fence or a sign . . . what's to stop him from taking that shot?" he asked.
Freitas said he does not think that would be a hazard because the noise from vehicles would alert hunters that riders are in the woods.
"Because it's Green Acres funding, it is open for recreational use," he added. "We're not encouraging hunting on the property."
Board members and acting board attorney Joseph Coronado questioned Freitas closely about security and safety issues. He said the park would employ a night watchman to protect the facilities; to guard against fire and polluting groundwater, riders would need to refuel their machines in designated areas with fire extinguishers and catch mats to capture any spills.
The group will have paid and volunteer safety workers to stand by on the site during weekend riding.
"We have a very good safety record," Freitas said. At events the group held at the nearby Sahara Sands pits in Eagleswood, there was one injury among almost 700 riders competing in 14 events, he said.
"At this time I don't have all the answers," Freitas said. "We have to work with the community and do what the community wants."
www.app.com/article/20090630/NEWS/906300353/1070/NEWS02/Proponent++ATV+park+will+curb+illegal+ridingZoning board to hear about ATV park
BY KIRK MOORE • STAFF WRITER • JULY 1, 2009
LITTLE EGG HARBOR — Zoning officials have scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the municipal building at 665 Radio Road to hear testimony about the proposed Atlantic Off-Highway Vehicle Park, a trail and track-riding facility that would be built on the 120-acre Shoreline Materials sand mine site off Thomas Avenue.
The nonprofit group's application was postponed earlier this month over questions about the legal status of an access road onto the site and whether neighbors had been adequately notified.
The park would be the only large, publicly accessible riding area since the New Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Park near Chatsworth closed last summer.
www.app.com/article/20090701/NEWS/907010304/1070/NEWS02/Zoning+board+to+hear+about+ATV+park
