North Perth Council is in the process of addressing concerns over ATV use in the municipality, specifically on some trails.
Manager of Facilities, Jeff Newell, says right now, ATVs are permitted on a number of roadways, with the exception of major local highways and main streets. They're also not allowed on the main streets of Monkton and Atwood. Newell adds there's also restrictions on trails.
"When it comes to trail use, ATVs are not permitted on the trails in North Perth. If people run into problems with that, just realize that they're not permitted on the trails and they can contact local police if there's problems," Newell stated.
At the council meeting on May 6, a presentation from a member of the public brought forward concerns about the municipality possibly considering a change where ATVs would be permitted on certain sections of trails.
"Some of the concerns that were raised at the council meeting included the multi-use aspect of the trail, with a combination of walkers, runners, cyclists, people with strollers. Those were mainly the concerns that were raised, stuff concerning safety," Newell shared."
Newell confirmed council is considering it following a proposal from the North Perth ATV Club.
"The trail that's in question is from east of Henfryn, through Atwood and north toward Listowel, so it's not all the trails in North, it's just the one rail trail that we're talking about. The next step for council is to see a report that will come back from staff indicating the results from a survey that would be data driven to help explain people's support or lack of support for use of ATVs on the trail," said Newell.
Additionally, Newell says that if the North Perth ATV Club is permitted to use that section of trail, they would enter into a similar agreement as the one shared with local snowmobilers, where the ATV club volunteers would help do trail maintenance and maintain the condition of the trail.
Newell says the public survey should be going out in the next week or so, and will be available on the YourSayNorthPerth.ca site. He adds that the report back to council likely wouldn't be ready for another month or so, potentially in early July.