San Bernardino County Passes OHV Ordinance
BAKERSFIELD, CA (April 11,2006) –On April 11, 2006 The San
Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an OHV
ordinance that is fair to both off-roaders in the county and residents
who have valid complaints. Early on in this process David Hubbard,
attorney for EcoLogic, suggested the formation of a group of
stakeholders composed of environmentalists, OHV organizations and
community groups from around the county. The goal of this group was to
find a compromise on this sometimes very contentious issue and then go
before the Supervisors united in their support for the agreement
reached. After two very long meetings the stakeholders agreed on the
language used in this ordinance.
The compromise includes no property line setbacks, no maximum number of
bikes per acre, no restrictive riding period, and no permit process for
the person wanting to ride on their own property and not use that
property as a staging area. A permit is only required if the property
owner plans on staging more than 10 OHV’s on a property. It does
include a process by which residents can seek judicial relief from
nuisance and harassment. The ordinance includes a noise element
requiring OHV’s ridden on private property to measure 96dba at the
pipe, the same standard required on California public lands. Also, the
language in this ordinance gives enforcement powers to both County Code
Enforcement and the Sheriff’s department.
David Hubbard, attorney for EcoLogic stated “I would like to thank all
parties involved in this process.” Meg Grossglass of ORBA commented “I
hope the process by which this ordinance was crafted is repeated in
counties looking at similar ordinances. Other counties have not taken
into consideration the needs of all members of their constituency, San
Bernardino County wanted to address those concerns and followed through
with an ordinance that is fair and reasonable to all citizens.”