JZO
Veteran
 Offline
Gender: 
Posts: 499
|
 |
« on: December 31, 2009, 07:21:03 AM » |
|
Lewis sells 2,016 ATV permits in 2009
'RELATIVELY SMOOTH': First year of pay-to-play trail system brings $81,160 from local, out-of-state riders
By STEVE VIRKLER
TIMES STAFF WRITER
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009
ARTICLE OPTIONS
LOWVILLE — Lewis County sold 2,016 permits in the first year of its pay-to-play all-terrain-vehicle trail system.
"I think for our first year, it's very good," said Legislator Richard C. Lucas, R-Barnes Corners, chairman of the legislative Economic Development Committee. "And we anticipate a much larger number next year."
"Lewis County is the template for the rest of the state on information about how to create an ATV trail system," Trail Coordinator Robert C. Diehl told county legislators earlier this month.
Mr. Diehl said the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in West Virginia, which he visited in 2006, sold about 3,000 permits in its first year of operation.
The county from May through October operated a permit-based ATV system, contracting with the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce to sell permits at its Web site, South State Street office and several local businesses.
"I think it went relatively smooth for the first time," said Chamber Executive Director Anne L. Merrill, whose agency receives a 10 percent administrative fee on sales.
Permits cost $40 for each ATV owned by a member of a club in the Tug Hill Adirondack ATV Association and $80 for each machine owned by a non-member. Permit buyers were allowed to join the club of their choice for an additional membership fee of $25.
The county collected $22,175 — representing 887 new members — on behalf of the ATV clubs.
Only a handful of people opted to pay the full $80. Most of them indicated they didn't feel they could give time to a club, Mrs. Merrill said.
Riders came from as far away as Ohio and Virginia, although most permits were sold to residents of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including a significant number from the Rochester area, she said.
The chamber soon will send renewal notices to 2009 permit-holders and begin promoting 2010 ATV permits, Mrs. Merrill said. "We'll start pushing them again next week," she said.
Mrs. Merrill said some local riders told her they wouldn't buy a permit until the trail system included a connection between Brantingham and Tug Hill. Legislators in October established that by approving creation of some trails on private land and opening an additional 2.3 miles of county roads, including Burdicks Crossing Road bridge over the Black River, to ATVs.
"People will be much happier now that Burdicks Crossing is open," Mrs. Merrill said.
The county this year received $81,160 from permit sales and spent $41,368 on set-up, administrative, advertising and sign costs.
The remaining $39,792 will be available for use in 2010, although fees of $129.99 to U.S. Digital for maintaining the data server and $27.90 for credit card acceptance are to be withdrawn each month.
The 2010 county budget anticipates several other trail fund expenditures, including $28,000 for trail work, $8,000 for education and enforcement and $4,000 for legal fees.
The county didn't directly fund any 2009 trail work, since the clubs donated about $7,000 worth of materials and a crew of club members provided more than 600 hours of volunteer labor, Mr. Diehl said.
While most of the trail crew consisted of retirees, two county highway workers volunteered their time on weekends to work on trails using county equipment, he said.
Much of the volunteers' work consisted of developing about 50 miles of trail on county and private land and constructing 13 bridges, 12 on county land and one 40-foot-long one across House Creek on private land in the town of Turin, Mr. Diehl said.
Trails on county land were named for prominent historical figures from the county, he said. One example is the G.H.P. Gould Loop in Lyonsdale, named for industrialist Gordius Henry Plumb Gould, who in 1894 founded a paper mill in nearby Lyons Falls.
"It made sense to me to pull in the local history to this trail system," Mr. Diehl said.
One snafu this year involved inaccuracies on both versions of privately produced ATV trail maps that were given out to permit-holders.
For 2010, the county plans to contract with the chamber to produce official trail maps. The new maps, which will be available in time for the annual Snirt Run in April, will include a topographical background and GPS coordinates, Mrs. Merrill said.
Chamber officials also plan to survey permit-holders via the Internet to determine what they liked and disliked about the 2009 ATV season and the permit system, she said.
The possibility of adding daily or weekly permit fees for the 2010 season also may be discussed, Mr. Lucas said.
PERMIT-TED SPENDING
Lewis County in 2009 received $81,185 in all-terrain vehicle trail permit fees and spent $41,368, leaving a carryover into 2010 of $39,792. The trail money was spent as follows:
■ Trail system advertising: $13,793
/ U.S. Digital (equipment, programming, Web development, technical support, maintaining data server): $10,428
/ Chamber of Commerce: $8,116
/ Trail signs: $6,034
/ Credit card fees: $2,264
|
