Winchester town board tables ATV/UTV ordinance issue

With it being November and all three seats on the Winchester town board up for election in April, the town board last week tabled, after some discussion, any action on an ordinance for all terrain vehicle (ATV) and utility task vehicle (UTV) use on town roads.

There’s some history, some of it somewhat contentious, as an ATV/UTV ordinance had been approved by the previous town board in March, 2021. 

In late 2020 and into early 2021, before the ordinance’s approval, there had been a survey sent out to a little more than 1,000 people with 550 respondents.

Of the 550, six surveys were discarded for various reasons and of the 544 remaining surveys, there were 224 affirmative responses for ATV/UTV use on town roads and 278 negative responses to the idea. 

There were 48 surveys indicating an undecided stance on the issue.  

With a changeover in the two town supervisor seats as a result of the April election in 2024, the ordinance was rescinded by the town board the following month.

More recently, the Vilas County board at its Oct. 22 meeting narrowly, by a margin of 10 to 9, voted to deny a request by the town of Presque Isle to have stretches of county highway in the town of Winchester opened for ATV/UTV use. 

Winchester town chairman Joe Discianno said at Monday’s town board meeting he had the item on the agenda because he knew town supervisor John Grimmer had recently attended a Wisconsin Towns Association law conference that Grimmer said had an “hour-long segment on ATV/UTV law or regulations for towns.”

Grimmer said one of the “takeaways” from the presentation was that it isn’t “a good idea to try and regulate noise.”

“Noise ordinances aren’t very effective but speed is another way to affect noise,” he said. “There’s not a lot of things towns can do that are more restrictive than what the state does.”

Grimmer said one thing he came away with is that towns are responsible for getting ATV/UTV signage in place. 

“Unless it’s county roads,” Discianno said. 

“Even if you involve a club, the town’s responsible,” Grimmer said. “The suggestion was the town do it so they’re liable.”

Can’t stop it

Discianno said he was sure everyone attending the meeting knew the outcome of the vote on the Presque Isle request during Oct. 22 Vilas County board meeting. 

He had addressed the county board at the meeting, urging a vote to deny the request. 

“Things went in our favor but I don’t think it’s going to go in our favor next time,” Discianno said, a reference to the one vote margin at the county board meeting. “How long it is until the next request, I don’t know.”

He said the makeup of the town board could change “next year.”

“Do we want to approach this?” Discianno asked Grimmer and town supervisor Nicholas Newton. “Do we want to look at putting together an ordinance? It doesn’t have to go into effect but at least the ordinance can be written and written how the planning commission or we want it to be ... I wish we had some way of really trying to gauge people’s thoughts on this.”

During the discussion, the survey that was done was mentioned and Newton suggested a public hearing, something Discianno and Grimmer didn’t think was a good idea. 

“I just think this is something that’s coming down the road sometime and we’re not going to be able to stop it,” Discianno said. “I’ve said that several times. I just think there needs to be some structure ... if it happens, it just needs to happen the right way.”

He asked Grimmer and Newton again. 

“Is this something we want to look into?” Discianno asked. “Is it something we don’t want to?”

“I think if you take on this project, I think you need to own it and take it to fruition,” Grimmer said. “So, maybe this is something better left to the next board because they would have time to live with it.”

“I’ve heard from a lot of people who want to see this happen,” Newton said. “I’ve heard from a lot of people who don’t want to see it happen.”

Discianno said it was his understanding there were 80 letters of opposition to ATVs and UTVs sent to members of the Vilas County board prior to the Oct. 22 county board meeting and 12 letters in favor.

“So you’re saying you don’t want to pursue this?” Discianno asked Grimmer and Newton after a few minutes.

“I would rather not,” Grimmer said. “That’s my personal preference.”

“And what do you think?” Discianno said to Newton. “No pressure.”

“I would really like to find a way to engage the public on it to get a better answer,” Newton said.

“You could send a survey,” Grimmer said. That’s what we did last time.”

“Is there something that the ATV/UTV club can take on?” Newton asked, referring to the Northwoods ATV/UTV Club.

“Those guys are not, in my estimation, a good partner at this point,” Grimmer said.

“OK,” Newton said and there was a pause. 

“I just have a process in my mind how I think it should happen,” Discianno said, breaking the silence. “I’m not saying that’s the way it’s going to happen ... when it’s forced on you, and I mean by the county. Then, you’re playing catch-up and people are already starting to run machines whether there’s signage or not compared to you working on something now and developing it and maybe it works and maybe it doesn’t.”

He warned about opening what he described was “Pandora’s Box.”

“Once you open it, there’s no closing it,” Discianno said.

No big deal

Newton asked about keeping the matter on the meeting agenda for another month. 

“I’m still getting approached by people,” he said. “This is important to a lot of people.”

“It’s important but I think it’s important for the wrong reasons because it’s not that big of a deal,” Discianno said. “You know what I mean? It’s not we’re taking their license away or their power away or the vehicle that they drive every day. This is a recreational, off-road vehicle and people lose their minds over it which I don’t understand.”

Newton brought up he’d talked to members of the law enforcement community who told him there’s no connection between a driver’s license and operating an ATV or UTV in that penalties for drinking and driving are completely different. 

“There’s no attachment to your license so you can drink and drive on a machine,” he said. “There’s just a fine.”

“There’s a lot of flaws and the flaws are at the state level and we can’t do anything about it,” Discianno said. 

He then made a motion to table the ATV/UTV ordinance question and it passed unanimously. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].