Jordan River Valley ORV vote up for re-do
Sep. 20—ALBA — Chestonia Township trustees will redo their controversial vote to open county roads in Jordan River Valley to off-road vehicles.
Township board members will meet Oct. 10 to host a public hearing on the ordinance, then vote on it, a meeting notice shows.
Chestonia Township Supervisor Roy Wicht said this public hearing comes after realizing the township didn't give notice to all the local governments as required by state law. Specifically, the township clerk didn't mail notices to Antrim County villages.
"So on the advice of our attorney, we sent out notices to everybody, including the villages, and set another public hearing," Wicht said, adding that the clerk missing those notices before was unintentional.
"There's no big conspiracy theory or anything else that's floating around on the internet," he said.
State law gives townships the authority to pass ordinances opening county roads within their limits to ORVs. Riders have to follow certain rules, and roads under other jurisdiction — federal or state highways like U.S. 131 or M-32 — would still be closed to ORVs.
Any township considering such an ordinance has to mail notices to their county's road commission, elected leaders of each township and municipality within that county, and the Michigan Department of Transportation — all at least 45 days before a public hearing on the ordinance, according to state law. If the county contains state forestland, the township also must give written notice to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Andrew Turner pointed out this requirement to Chestonia Township trustees at the end of their meeting, with Wicht replying he would check with the township attorney.
Turner, of Bellaire, said he raised that same point with Star Township officials after requesting records from the neighboring township.
While Star Township trustees had previously been set to hear public input on their own draft of an ORV ordinance on Wednesday, they pushed the hearing back to Oct. 7, meeting documents show.
Turner said his request for records from Chestonia Township showed the same thing, although he didn't point this out to trustees until after their 3-2 vote on Sep. 9 to adopt the ordinance. He noted that the township has no website.
Their vote followed a stream of public comments from people opposed to the change, many of them pointing to concerns over impact on the Jordan River and the valley's quiet and solitude.
Antrim Conservation District's director joined in the push against the ordinance, pointing to the DNR sending a letter listing a litany of issues ORVs could pose to the wooded valley and its prized trout stream.
A few commenters spoke in favor of allowing ORVs on the few remote roads that wind through the valley. They brushed off critics' concerns as overblown or biased, and argued they should be able to enjoy the valley as they see fit.
Ultimately, Wicht told the audience he agreed with the handful who favored the change.
"I don't believe the world's going to end with people riding down through there at 25 miles per hour with a less-than-2,000-pound vehicle," Wicht said at the Sept. 9 meeting.
On Thursday, Wicht couldn't say if the upcoming vote would go the same way.
"I don't poll the board members; that's illegal," he said. "So I don't know how they're going to vote."
