24 June 2024
A surprise vote by the Eastport City Council about allowing all-terrain vehicles on certain local roads has residents up in arms, but council members say it will be a while before the issue is settled.
The topic of allowing ATVs on local roads was not on the council’s meeting agenda last week, but the council voted 3-2 on Thursday in support of a proposal to allow ATVs on local roads in the city’s bow-hunting district. The vote does not endorse the use of ATVs in downtown Eastport or on nearby residential streets, which are outside that district.
Earl Small, who has previously served on the City Council and was appointed last month to temporarily fill a vacancy on the board, said Thursday’s vote was simply the start of a process. Small, who supported the measure, said his goal is to develop a plan for how ATVs can be used in Eastport that eventually will be put to voters in a referendum.
Councilors Colleen Dana-Cummings and David Morang joined Small in supporting the proposal. Billy Boone, the council chairman, and Jeanne Peacock voted against it.
Small said that he knows people were caught off guard by Thursday’s vote, but said there is a lot of misinformation in Eastport about what the vote means. He said the city will have to come up with a plan and the state will have to approve it before ATVs can be used on Route 190, which is a state highway and the only way in and out of Eastport other than by boat.
“I’m trying to cool everybody down,” Small said. “This is not a next-day thing.”
Several people sent news tips about the vote to the Bangor Daily News on Friday, but when asked if they were comfortable with being quoted, none responded or was willing to go on the record.
The fact that the issue and vote was not listed on the council agenda is not a violation of state law, according to Kate Dufour, a lobbyist for Maine Municipal Association. The only thing required is advance notice of public meetings, she said.
But the group that advocates for the interests of Maine cities and towns does recommend that municipal boards use agendas when conducting meetings. Agendas allow officials and members of the public to be better prepared for meetings, and helps ensure that business is conducted in a fair and orderly process, Dufour said.
Boone said the ATV issue has been heavily debated in recent years, and again has gotten council’s attention in recent months, before Small was appointed to fill a vacancy created when former councilor Floyd Andrews resigned from the board in May. At a similar vote in April, the council voted 5-0 in opposition to allowing ATVs on local roads, he said.
The vote on Thursday, he said, caught him and others at the meeting by surprise.
“I know there’s a lot of upset people,” Boone said. “I think there will be more to follow.”
Boone said he anticipates citizens who are opposed to allowing ATVs on local roads will mount an effort to push back on the proposal. But even if a majority of the council continues to support the idea, the city will have to develop more specifics about what type of ATV use is permitted, put up road signs showing where they can be used, and adopt possible time restrictions before anything becomes official.
“I would be shocked if it is not contested,” Boone said. “I do not see this issue laying down and fading away.”
Both Boone and Small said they expect the issue will be heavily discussed when the council meets next on July 10.
Small said he thinks it will take six months to a year for the city and residents to iron out a more formal plan and then decide whether to vote it up or down.
He said that as surprising as Thursday’s vote was to some people, the 5-0 council vote in April against the idea was equally surprising to others. The only way to resolve the issue is through a referendum, he said — not by repeated council votes that swing one way and then the other.
“Why let only five people vote on it?” Small said. “We need to have a plan and to present that plan to the citizens of Eastport.”