SnapGlow.TV: Modern Gems Galore! The parks bill, which would require the DEP to choose three locations for off-highway-vehicle parks, was approved by the Senate during the final meeting of the legislative session last month.
"This bill's been a long time coming," said Sen. Shirley Turner (D., Mercer), who has sponsored the bill for four years.
Turner is optimistic the bill will pass the Assembly by November. Should that happen, the DEP would have nine months to comb through its land holdings and available private land to find suitable sites for ATV use.
The DEP has been searching for such a site since 2002, said John S. Watson, deputy commissioner for natural resources. So far, no new parks have been created.
"It's been very hard finding a location that met all the criteria we needed," he said.
Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, said it might be impossible to find the sites in such a limited amount of time.
"Unfortunately, whenever a site is identified, it tends to bring out a lot of opposition," he said. "Neighbors don't want people riding in their backyards."
In 2005, the department bought an abandoned sand mine in Monroe for $1.2 million in hopes of finding a private operator to turn it into an ATV park.
Amid protest from nearby residents and environmentalists, the town zoning board refused to approve the park, and the site remains unused.
Akers said the process the DEP had used for finding a site was inherently flawed.
"The same rules that would apply to other development should be applied to ATV parks," he said. "When it turns out that endangered species are on a site, it messes up their plan. If they'd had site surveys to see what might be there first, they could've avoided this."
Once industrial sites are abandoned, animals can move in quickly, leading to the development of new ecosystems.
"I happen to know that there were barn owls and a population of at least 50 Pine Barren tree frogs there," he said.
In 2007, the DEP changed its approach by restricting its involvement to helping outside organizations buy land. It awarded a $338,218 Recreational Trails Program grant to Atlantic Off-Highway Vehicle Park Inc. to establish an ATV facility in Ocean County.
Freitas, the organization's president, has been trying to secure a gravel pit in Little Egg Harbor Township for the last two years. It all comes down to a zoning-board meeting July 14 that will consider a variance to allow the ATV park to operate in an area zoned residential.
"We're under contract with the owner," he said. "It's all depending on if this goes through."
Whether ATV enthusiasts get their parks is also dependent on the passage of the registration bill in November.
The bill was scheduled to come up for a vote last month, DeVito said, but was pulled at the last minute.
Chance Lykens of Insight Consulting Services, a lobbying firm hired by the Off Highway Vehicle Association, said riders were concerned registration fees and penalties would increase while they still had no parks to enjoy.
"It's like saying I should be allowed to break the law until people provide me with a place to do something that's otherwise illegal," DeVito said. "It'll take years to locate a park. We can't afford to wait."
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