Supervisors question need for county ATV ordinance

The Henry County Board of Supervisors is once again questioning the idea of having an ATV ordinance for the county.

Supervisor Chad White brought the discussion to the board meeting Tuesday.

'As we've known for the past several years, there's been an interest in ATV and UTV road use within Henry County,” he said. 'All of our surrounding counties without exception have authorized the use of ATV and UTV on their secondary roads, and several of the municipalities within Henry County have authorized the use of them, too.”

'There's a public interest,” White said. 'I've had a number of people contact me outside of the courthouse expressing an interest in an ATV/UTV ordinance.”

White had talked to the surrounding counties about their own ATV/UTV ordinances. Aside from a few isolated incidents, those counties had not seen any issues arise from the ordinances, he said.

'None of them that I've talked to wish that they have never done it or have remorse in that decision,” White said. 'I'd like to move forward with this and look into writing up and passing a resolution to allow residents to operate an ATV or UTV on Henry County's secondary roads.”

The city of Mt. Pleasant recently adopted its own UTV ordinance in October. Supporters of ATV/UTV usage are pushing for an ordinance for the entire county now. Scott Martin, who lives near Salem Stub and is an active driver of ATV's, voiced his opinion on the matter.

'We're active riders, and I'd like to see my county allow it,” he said.

'Most of these side by sides have complete roll cages, seat belts, brake lights, headlights, turn signals,” Martin said. 'So as far as a vehicle and a sense of safety, it's way safer I feel than like a motorcycle.”

Currently, the state of Iowa does not have an overall law governing ATV/UTV usage. It's up to counties and towns to determine their own ordinances.

'There is a rough draft form that Henry County has put together in the past as a resolution,” White said. 'I think it needs to be reexamined and looked at to see if there's things we want to change in light of reading other county resolutions.

'It's just not a free fall,” he said. 'There has to be some form of rule and regulation that will go with it as far as what roads would be authorized, what roads wouldn't be authorized, operator conditions as far as licensed drivers and insurance requirements.”

The Henry County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 to move forward with the discussion, research and drafting of an ATV/UTV ordinance resolution.