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City may consider ban on all-terrain vehicles
By Ross Willis
Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:58 AM EDT
The Toccoa Record
Several Toccoa residents are continuing their push to have ATVs banned or, at the very least, severely limited inside the city limits.
For the second time, city commissioners heard complaints from several residents about the use of three- and four-wheelers on private property. Riding ATVs on the “small lots” upon which most city homes are located is not just a nuisance to neighbors, it is dangerous.
The concerned citizens addressed commissioners at the end of last month during a regular commission meeting, and commissioners will take up the issue once again in an upcoming meeting.
“My concern about them riding ATVs on those small lots is safety. When they are riding like they do, they are simply not controlled,” Ken Cox told commissioners.
Cox, who is also the Toccoa marshal, addressed his concerns to commissioners as a private citizen, citing an ongoing issue with ATV use in his Toccoa neighborhood.
“They are doing wheelies. They are riding with two people on the back of them, and they are doing all this on small lots,” he said, adding that if an ATV driver were to lose control ” something that easily could happen ” then the vehicle could travel across the rider’s property and onto a neighbor’s lot, possibly injuring or killing someone on the neighbor’s property.
But, Cox’s complaint didn’t stop with the issue of safety.
“My second problem is that they are a nuisance. They are just so loud and, with the dry weather we’ve had, they are very dusty. But, if this issue were to go to court, how would you determine what is ‘too loud?’” he said. “I don’t think you’d want to have these ATVs next-door to you.”
Cox wasn’t the only citizen to bring his complaint before commissioners.
Courtney Gore said she agreed with everything Cox had said.
“I am afraid they will run over my children. They are crazy riders, and I am fearful for my children to even be outside because they could run through my fence while my 10- and 6-year-old are outside,” Gore said.
Mayor A.J. Pavliscsak questioned why the city wasn’t already enforcing the current ordinance.
“Ken, you are the city marshal. Is there not anything in the current code [of ordinances] that is applicable?” Pavliscsak asked Cox.
Cox acknowledged that the city’s ordinances provide for the prevention of noise, but that stipulation is difficult, at best, to win through in a court of law.
“You do have a noise ordinance, and citizens in the neighborhood have called the police, who told [the ATV riders] to stop, and they did stop for a while. But, once you get into court [on a noise nuisance complaint], how do you prove what is too loud?” Cox said.
Commissioner Janice English sympathized with the residents’ plight.
“I said this before, but I experienced a very similar situation several years ago, although that was with a motorcycle. They would just drive around and around in circles for hours on end at all times of the day and night. It didn’t matter. The noise and the dust were just unbearable, and they would ride without helmets, too. So, there were safety, noise and dust nuisances, just like in this case,” English said.
When asked how best to approach the issue without imposing an all-out ban on riding ATVs inside the city limits, even on private property, city attorney John Dickerson said the best recourse is through the court system.
“You could redefine the city’s nuisance ordinance. I can look into that and report back to you,” Dickerson suggested.
“But, the best way to deal with it is through a civil action where the burden of proof is not as heavy as it is in an ordinance violation. The best solution is for the neighbors to get together and file a civil action,” he said.
The consensus among commissioners was for the city attorney to reexamine all of the applicable ordinances and report back to commissioners with any recommendations. In the meantime, however, they suggested that the citizens heed Dickerson’s advice and consider other options for preventing the continuing problem.
Dickerson said he would overhaul the ordinances and present the changes to commissioners for consideration at a future meeting, possibly the 5 p.m. city commission meeting on Monday, Oct. 13, but as of press time, there was no word if the topic would be on the meeting’s agenda.
In other issues discussed during recent city commission meetings:
• Manager Billy Morse reminded citizens that city work crews would continue flushing water lines throughout October.
“Hydrant flushing [began] on Oct. 5 and will continue through Oct. 31 to remove any silt that may have accumulated over the past year. This is a regular annual program, and it will be done at night,” Morse said.
• Morse said the next joint meeting of the city and county commissions will be on Oct. 13 following the city’s 5 p.m. regular meeting.
• Dickerson told commissioners the county commission agreed to give the City of Toccoa its portion of the SPLOST IV proceeds collected for the additional three months’ collection time.
The city will receive 20.548 percent of the one-cent sales tax revenues collected over that period, which amounts to more than $150,000, he said.
“That money is earmarked for road resurfacing,” Morse told commissioners when they asked if the extra money would be placed in the general fund or used on other projects.
“It must be used for one of the SPLOST IV projects, and it will be used for extra road resurfacing projects. There are plenty of roads that need it, so it is a very welcome addition to the proceeds already collected,” Morse said.
Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt a resolution approving the revenue payment to the city.
• Commissioners asked Dickerson to examine a request from the historical society for the city to accept a conveyance of ownership of numerous artifacts in the museum to the city so those items can be insured.
The historical society compiled a list of items to be insured, but without associated values in many cases, additional consideration must be given before commissioners would agree to the request.
• Commissioners voted unanimously to appoint Toccoan Bill Ayers to the City of Toccoa Ethics Committee. The move came as commissioners decided to maintain a current pool of eligible members to serve on the ethics committee should the need ever arise.
While the committee has never met since being created in 2001, some current members are no longer eligible to serve due to various reasons, such as moving out of Toccoa, unwilling to serve, passing away, etc.
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