Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Options for legal ATV riding limited

The middle of Kensington and the middle of the New Jersey Pine Barrens have almost nothing in common except for one common sound.Stand long enough in either locale on any summer Sunday, and the buzz of a dirt bike or ATV will echo off the scrubby pine trees, or the row houses. Inner-city riders doing wheelies through busy intersections are more blatant about breaking the law, but anyone who's ever straddled a dirt bike or ATV in the Delaware Valley has dealt with the same issue — there's few places to ride legally. "There's plenty of illegal places to ride," said Steve Hyde, owner of Mount Holly Powersports in Burlington County. "Unless you have a rich grandfather who has a farm, you really have nowhere legally to ride though."

The middle of Kensington and the middle of the New Jersey Pine Barrens have almost nothing in common except for one common sound.

Stand long enough in either locale on any summer Sunday, and the buzz of a dirt bike or ATV will echo off the scrubby pine trees, or the row houses. Inner-city riders doing wheelies through busy intersections are more blatant about breaking the law, but anyone who's ever straddled a dirt bike or ATV in the Delaware Valley has dealt with the same issue — there's few places to ride legally.

"There's plenty of illegal places to ride," said Steve Hyde, owner of Mount Holly Powersports in Burlington County. "Unless you have a rich grandfather who has a farm, you really have nowhere legally to ride though."

When the Daily News followed a horde of dirt bike and ATV riders last month, they rode wherever they wanted — Fairmount Park, Hunting Park, along the Delaware River, all illegally with no police interaction. Many said they would pay a fee, sign waivers, and maybe wear safety gear if the city operated a spot to ride legally. Some said they'd probably get bored and hit the streets.

"Give us a place to ride, and charge money. People will go," said "Antonio", who was waiting on his ATV for other riders to show up at Hunting Park.

It's a moot argument because the city has no plans to open a park, though research provided to the Daily News by City Council President Darrell Clarke's office concluded "potential benefits include revenue generation and a possible decrease of illegal ATV use on city streets."

Some off-road retailers say that's an understatement.

"The city could get out of financial ruin. They'd have a line formed there to get in," said Vince Sanginiti, owner of Philadelphia Cycle Center on Castor Avenue in Port Richmond.

In New Jersey, in 2002, then-Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Brad Campbell promised to open two new off-road parks in the state. Instead, a popular park that operated for years in the Pine Barrens closed in 2008 and a replacement site, a former sand mine in South Jersey, got bogged down in zoning and planning issues, environmental concerns, and NIMBY-ism. The DEP recently acquired land in rural Woodbine, Cape May County — already a popular area for illegal riding — for use as a possible park but environmental tests are still being conductive. Meanwhile, the closest spot for anyone in Philly to ride legally — Atco Raceway in Camden County — has closed its dirt bike track.

In New Jersey, riders on street-legal dirt bikes are permitted to ride on fire roads and trail riding is often overlooked. ATVs can only be ridden on private property with permission. In Pennsylvania, it's sort of the opposite. ATVs (three wheels or more) are allowed in certain state forests but access for street legal or regular dirt bikes is limited. The state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has helped pay for private off-road parks, a spokeswoman said, including Rock Run Recreation Park west of Altoona and the soon-to-be-open Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area in Northumberland County.

That park is about 100 miles from Philly and Woodbine, in Cape May County, is about 65 miles away. For a rider in Philly with no pickup truck or trailer, it's an easy choice for now.