Assemblyman backs away from plan to ban off-road vehicles
By MIKE JACCARINO Staff Writer, (609) 978-2010
TRENTON - A controversial Assembly bill that would outlaw the use of all off road vehicles, including dirt bikes, will most likely not come into law in its current form, officials said Wednesday.
An aide for state Assemblyman Eric Munoz, R-Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union, who sponsored the bill earlier this year, said that the lawmaker is no longer pursuing the bill even though it is still awaiting review by an Assembly committee.
"(Munoz's) support for the bill as it stands right now has waned," said Joe DeIorio, a legislative aid for Munoz. "He hasn't withdrawn the bill entirely because he wants to keep the issue on the table and discussion open. If the bill was gone, people would forget."
Instead, DeIorio said, Munoz will either significantly amend the current bill, titled Assembly Bill-2238, or sponsor an entirely new one sometime within the next few months.
This new offering, DeIorio said, would be far more lenient with regard to restricting off-road vehicles, or ORVs, on state land and instead focus on safety and awareness of current legal restrictions.
The bill was introduced in May after a Union County child died while illegally riding an off-road vehicle in a northern New Jersey state park. It was just the latest step in what ORV aficionados say is a long-running trend to close all of the places where they can ride. Development in southern Ocean County, for instance, has claimed most of the places where riders once went in the area, forcing the remaining adherents to tread increasingly close to homes and private fields.
Such action, according to riders, has had the effect of alienating them from the general community and forcing the passage of more restrictive laws on riding. Most towns in southern Ocean County now have strict laws on the issue.
As an alternative there is only one major privately owned place for people to ride their ORVs, a 256-acre tract located on Route 72 in Chatsworth known as The New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park.
In the case of Munoz's bill's intent is to, "prohibit, by law, the use of all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, off-road motorcycles, or any other similar off-road vehicles in state parks and forests.
However, the issue becomes a little complex from there, since the use of such vehicles in state parks and forests is already illegal by state law.
It documents, for instance, that the state Department of Environmental Protection has recently been cracking down on the use of off-road vehicles, employing officers and volunteer deputies to patrol state forests.
Fines for such usage range from a minimum of $71 for first time offenders all the way to a $1,000 maximum penalty that can be accompanied by the impounding of the vehicle and the revocation of fishing and hunting licenses.
There are exceptions to the ban on riding in state parks and forests, however.
The DEP can grant special authorization for off-road vehicle riders to drive around.
In Lebanon State Park in Ocean County, for example, ORVs are permitted on certain trails denoted by the park's superintendent.
A call to Wharton State Forest also revealed the same practice. An attendant there said that as long as the vehicle was registered with the state Division of Motor Vehicles, had a head-light, and could be driven on regular state and municipal roads, it was allowed on certain trails.
"They allow us because they are kind enough to see there is a need," said Rocco Spano, trail boss for the ORV club Ocean County Competitive Riders of Lakehurst. "It's totally up to them."
The other main instances where permission is granted for use of ORVs are for the organized events that are held around the state for owners of ORVs. There are about nine long-running annual events in the southern portion of New Jersey each year that are often held in state parks like The Curly Fern Enduro and the Pine Barons Hare Scramble at Wharton State Forest.
These events are typically attended by large crowds numbering in the hundreds with some participants coming from as far away as Virginia.
Munoz's bill would have ended such events, saying, it would, "specifically prohibit the (DEP) from granting a permit, or any other type of approval, authorizing the use of an all-terrain vehicle, dirt bike, off-road motorcycles, or any other similar off-road vehicle."
Such language caused a groundswell of protest from the ORV community. DeIorio said Munoz's office was swamped with e-mails and phone calls. At Southern Ocean Cycle Center on Route 9 in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township there is an effigy of sorts portraying Munoz with a sign reading, "This man wants to stop you from driving your off-road vehicles."
A petition to join the Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Association as well as a list of legislators to contact to voice displeasure accompanies the exhibit.
This grass roots appeal is most likely no longer necessary, according to DeIorio, who said that Munoz is no longer to looking to end the events or the special places on state land where people can ride.
He said the assemblyman, who is a surgeon at the University of Medicine and Dentistry Medical Center in Newark, Essex County, recognizes that such events can be conducted in a safe manner.
Consequently, the new bill will most likely include something like mandating merchants to include a safety and legal guidebook with each purchase of an off-road vehicle.
By MIKE JACCARINO Staff Writer, (609) 978-2010
TRENTON - A controversial Assembly bill that would outlaw the use of all off road vehicles, including dirt bikes, will most likely not come into law in its current form, officials said Wednesday.
An aide for state Assemblyman Eric Munoz, R-Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union, who sponsored the bill earlier this year, said that the lawmaker is no longer pursuing the bill even though it is still awaiting review by an Assembly committee.
"(Munoz's) support for the bill as it stands right now has waned," said Joe DeIorio, a legislative aid for Munoz. "He hasn't withdrawn the bill entirely because he wants to keep the issue on the table and discussion open. If the bill was gone, people would forget."
Instead, DeIorio said, Munoz will either significantly amend the current bill, titled Assembly Bill-2238, or sponsor an entirely new one sometime within the next few months.
This new offering, DeIorio said, would be far more lenient with regard to restricting off-road vehicles, or ORVs, on state land and instead focus on safety and awareness of current legal restrictions.
The bill was introduced in May after a Union County child died while illegally riding an off-road vehicle in a northern New Jersey state park. It was just the latest step in what ORV aficionados say is a long-running trend to close all of the places where they can ride. Development in southern Ocean County, for instance, has claimed most of the places where riders once went in the area, forcing the remaining adherents to tread increasingly close to homes and private fields.
Such action, according to riders, has had the effect of alienating them from the general community and forcing the passage of more restrictive laws on riding. Most towns in southern Ocean County now have strict laws on the issue.
As an alternative there is only one major privately owned place for people to ride their ORVs, a 256-acre tract located on Route 72 in Chatsworth known as The New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park.
In the case of Munoz's bill's intent is to, "prohibit, by law, the use of all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, off-road motorcycles, or any other similar off-road vehicles in state parks and forests.
However, the issue becomes a little complex from there, since the use of such vehicles in state parks and forests is already illegal by state law.
It documents, for instance, that the state Department of Environmental Protection has recently been cracking down on the use of off-road vehicles, employing officers and volunteer deputies to patrol state forests.
Fines for such usage range from a minimum of $71 for first time offenders all the way to a $1,000 maximum penalty that can be accompanied by the impounding of the vehicle and the revocation of fishing and hunting licenses.
There are exceptions to the ban on riding in state parks and forests, however.
The DEP can grant special authorization for off-road vehicle riders to drive around.
In Lebanon State Park in Ocean County, for example, ORVs are permitted on certain trails denoted by the park's superintendent.
A call to Wharton State Forest also revealed the same practice. An attendant there said that as long as the vehicle was registered with the state Division of Motor Vehicles, had a head-light, and could be driven on regular state and municipal roads, it was allowed on certain trails.
"They allow us because they are kind enough to see there is a need," said Rocco Spano, trail boss for the ORV club Ocean County Competitive Riders of Lakehurst. "It's totally up to them."
The other main instances where permission is granted for use of ORVs are for the organized events that are held around the state for owners of ORVs. There are about nine long-running annual events in the southern portion of New Jersey each year that are often held in state parks like The Curly Fern Enduro and the Pine Barons Hare Scramble at Wharton State Forest.
These events are typically attended by large crowds numbering in the hundreds with some participants coming from as far away as Virginia.
Munoz's bill would have ended such events, saying, it would, "specifically prohibit the (DEP) from granting a permit, or any other type of approval, authorizing the use of an all-terrain vehicle, dirt bike, off-road motorcycles, or any other similar off-road vehicle."
Such language caused a groundswell of protest from the ORV community. DeIorio said Munoz's office was swamped with e-mails and phone calls. At Southern Ocean Cycle Center on Route 9 in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township there is an effigy of sorts portraying Munoz with a sign reading, "This man wants to stop you from driving your off-road vehicles."
A petition to join the Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Association as well as a list of legislators to contact to voice displeasure accompanies the exhibit.
This grass roots appeal is most likely no longer necessary, according to DeIorio, who said that Munoz is no longer to looking to end the events or the special places on state land where people can ride.
He said the assemblyman, who is a surgeon at the University of Medicine and Dentistry Medical Center in Newark, Essex County, recognizes that such events can be conducted in a safe manner.
Consequently, the new bill will most likely include something like mandating merchants to include a safety and legal guidebook with each purchase of an off-road vehicle.
