Adventure Trails pilot project headed to Inyo supes
The ATV Adventure Trails System of the Eastern Sierra, spearheaded by Dick Noles of Bishop, is closer to reality after the Inyo County Planning Commissioners unanimously voted on Nov. 5 to accept the Planning Department staff recommendations and forward the Final Environmental Impact Report to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors.
The County’s Planning Department website explains that, on October 7, 2011, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 628, which allows Inyo County to establish a pilot project to designate combined-use highway segments up to 10 miles long on unincorporated County roads to link existing off-highway-vehicle (OHV) trails and trailheads on federal Bureau of Land Management or United States Forest Service lands.
The purpose is to link OHV recreational-use areas with necessary service and lodging facilities, in order to provide a unified system of OHV trails in the Owens Valley, some of which are in the City of Bishop.
The project has generally enjoyed widespread support among the public, and especially with local business owners hoping to see a positive economic impact on the County. However, groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility continue to voice objections stemming from environmental concerns, and some local homeowners that live in residential neighborhoods included in the plan’s designated routes have expressed concerns over the potential negative impacts on their property values because of noise, air quality and safety issues.
County Public Works Transportation Planner Courtney Smith took questions from Planning Commission members before public comments at the Nov. 5 Special Commission meeting. Assisting Smith in the presentation were principal consultant Joe Gibson, project manager Roland Ok, both of Meridian Consultants, LLC, as well as Inyo County Public Works Director Clint Quilter and Planning Department Associate Planner Elaine Kabala.
An overview of the Adventure Trails Project showed that the original 38 combined-use routes were reduced to 36 by the California Highway Patrol Safety Determination.
There are 242 miles of combined-use routes, or 181 miles of actual Inyo County and City of Bishop roads (95 paved, 86 dirt). The combined-use route total of miles is larger, as some of the routes share the same roads.
Routes have to comply with the Vehicle Code as amended in AB 628.
The combined-use designated routes include 17 in the Bishop area (four in the City), three in the Aberdeen area, two in the Big Pine Area, three in the Northern Inyo Range, four in the Independence Area, and seven in the Lone Pine Area. (Maps of the areas are available online at the County website.)
Revisions were recommended and accepted by the Planning Commission to address several public concerns include the following: “If a necessary service facility at the start or end point of a combined-use route closes, the applicants shall be required to submit a revised application within 90 days from the date the business is closed;” “If the County’s monitoring determines that undesirable impacts are being created by a combined-use route, the County shall close the route by removal of all signage within 90 days from the date of the Board action;” “The Mitigation and Monitoring Plan for the ESAT System EIR is included as part of the Implementing Procedures by reference;” and “The County shall monitor for creation of new OHV routes along the proposed combined-use routes and coordinate with the property owner/land management agency to determine if corrective action is required.”
While the Adventure Trails Final EIR was an action item and not a public hearing, and therefore public comments were not required, Commissioners decided to give the public the opportunity to express their support or concerns. Of the approximately 30 members of the public attending, 18 chose to speak. Eleven spoke out in support of the project as good for the County’s economy, and seven spoke out against or expressed concerned about certain aspects of the plan? primarily combined-use route designations in certain residential neighborhoods; noise, air quality, impact on property values, and environmental concerns.
Lefty Irwin of Bishop, a former Planning Commissioner who served on the Planning Commission for 12 years, said, “I support this project 100 percent,” while Bill Mitchell of Bishop expressed concerns about law enforcement funding and Inyo County becoming “another Kern County.”
Mitchell also felt the consultant for the FEIR was biased towards approval of the project and felt that many complaints were ignored or dismissed.
Nancy Hardy of Bishop told Commissioners that she was not in favor of the project and felt it should be smaller. “I am not against multiple-use,” she went on to say, “[but] there seems to be an overly-large influence by one group and many of the regulations are not enforceable.”
Bruce Cotton of Lone Pine, state coordinator for Veteran Warriors, spoke strongly in favor of the project, saying, “Stopping the project is stopping me and others, handicapped, elderly, and veterans, from enjoying our public lands.” He told the Commissioners that he recently spoke with someone in Utah, where a similar project has been implemented, and that he was told there was a large increase in business as a result. He also noted that funding of the project through “Green Stickers” on ATVs is “not going away,” in response to an earlier concern by another speaker that “funding might go away for law enforcement.”
Dan Pritchett of Bishop spoke out against the project, saying that he agreed with an earlier speaker that the FEIR was biased in favor of the project, that the financial benefits are greatly exaggerated, and implementation will “drive away people” that come to the County to enjoy other activities such as hiking.
Mike Johnston, President of the Eastern Sierra 4X4 Club, strongly supported the project, noting that, while “the project does not affect our members, there is a lot of area out there,” and generally “hikers are not found on the roads.”
Marty Hardwick with the Forest Service told Commissioners that the U.S. Forest Service is “strongly in support of the project” but that they did have some concerns that it be done correctly and that jurisdictional issues with the County and Forest Service need to be addressed.
Ilene Anderson with the Center for Biological Diversity reiterated her group’s concerns. “Liability issues have not been addressed,” she said.
Finally, the Adventure Trails Project founder, Dick Noles spoke. He noted that “ATVs are here to stay. This program is designed to give people information on how to be responsible. We need to ‘manage’ these things. People are already coming here, so let’s make them feel comfortable and welcomed. A road belongs to all of us, and we have to respect that. That does not give property owners the right to stop it simply because they don’t like it.”
The FEIR and staff recommendations were unanimously accepted by the Planning Commissioners and staff recommendations were forwarded for action to the Inyo Board of Supervisors.
Detailed information on Adventure Trails can be found at the Inyo County Planning Department website, http://inyoplanning.org/projects/AdventureTrails.htm.
