Little Egg Harbor NJ Off-road Park Meeting Tuesday July 14th 6:00 PM

[Dale@AGP]

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT IF YOU WANT A SAFE LEGAL PLACE FOR YOUR KIDS TO RIDE IN NEW JERSEY!

The meeting is this Tuesday evening July 14th 2009 at 6:00PM @ the Little Egg Harbor Municipal Complex.
Please spread the word we need responsible adults and their kids in the meeting, families would be great.
If possible please speak up and say something in support of the project.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR: SPECIAL MEETING PLANNED FOR PROPOSED ATV PARK,
THIS TUESDAY JULY 14TH, 6:00 PM LEH MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
Little Egg Harbor Zoning Board of Adjustment
Location: Little Egg Harbor Municipal Complex (Courtroom)
665 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08087
Date: Tuesday July 14, 2009
Time: 6:00 PM in the evening.
Room: The courtroom

Google Map Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...=16&iwloc=A (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=665+Radio+Road,+Little+Egg+Harbor+Township,+NJ+0 8087&sll=39.575892,-74.363966&sspn=0.012305,0.016758&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A)

[Dale@AGP]

Originally posted by Dale@AGP
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT IF YOU WANT A SAFE LEGAL PLACE FOR YOUR KIDS TO RIDE IN NEW JERSEY!

The meeting is this Tuesday evening July 14th 2009 at 6:00PM @ the Little Egg Harbor Municipal Complex.
Please spread the word we need responsible adults and their kids in the meeting, families would be great.
If possible please speak up and say something in support of the project.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR: SPECIAL MEETING PLANNED FOR PROPOSED ATV PARK,
THIS TUESDAY JULY 14TH, 6:00 PM LEH MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
Little Egg Harbor Zoning Board of Adjustment
Location: Little Egg Harbor Municipal Complex (Courtroom)
665 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08087
Date: Tuesday July 14, 2009
Time: 6:00 PM in the evening.
Room: The courtroom

Google Map Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...=16&iwloc=A (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=665+Radio+Road,+Little+Egg+Harbor+Township,+NJ+0 8087&sll=39.575892,-74.363966&sspn=0.012305,0.016758&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A)

REMINDER TONIGHTS THE MEETING 6:00 PM SHARP!

[Dale@AGP]

http://www.app.com/article/20090714/NEWS/907140357/1277/LOCAL01/DEP+sees+park+as+an+off-road+alternative

DEP sees park as an off-road alternative
Pair of grants would acquire a facility site
BY KIRK MOORE • ASBURY PARK PRESS STAFF WRITER • JULY 14, 2009

LITTLE EGG HARBOR — Besieged by illegal off-road vehicle use on public lands, the state Department of Environmental Protection sees the proposed Atlantic Off-Highway Vehicle Park here and its $2.3 million in state funding as one way out, a state parks administrator said at a second zoning board hearing on the plan.

"We are trying something we have not tried before . . . financing a nonprofit group to do the demonstration," said John Flynn of the state Green Acres program, who testified Tuesday night before the township Board of Adjustment.

Flynn described a pair of $1.15 million grants through the DEP that would acquire the Shoreline Materials sand mine site off Thomas Avenue from owner Joseph Filloon so the Atlantic Off-Highway group can develop a riding facility there.

Skeptical board members asked why existing Green Acres land elsewhere simply cannot be converted — as has been proposed by other riding groups. Green Acres purchased a sand mine site in Monroe in Gloucester County for $1.2 million to use as a riding site, but that plan has been stymied by local opposition and environmental groups.

"It's a very difficult issue for the department," Flynn said, noting that environmental groups "are very much opposed to using state land."

One issue for the zoning board is a previous approval for the sand mine from years ago that stipulated the property must be restored and reforested once mining ceases.

"I'd be surprised to learn that," Flynn told Joseph Coronado, the board's acting attorney.

"Instead of restoring it . . . the state is giving ($2.3 million) and relieves that person from having to restore it," Coronado said.

He asked if the DEP would tolerate "spillover" of riders from the proposed park onto neighboring Bass River State Forest land.

"At this point, we would not," Flynn replied.

Park sponsors say they are not seeking use of forest land but that continued to draw questions at Tuesday's hearing, a continuation of proceedings from June 30, when park director Dale Freitas presented plans for converting the 120-acre Shoreline Materials sand mine property.

If successful, the Atlantic Off-Highway proposal would become the first fully dedicated riding facility since the New Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Park near Chatsworth closed its gates last summer after 10 years of operation. "There's at least a 1,000-foot buffer between this area and any properties that are not state land," said Leah Furey, a professional planner with Bach Associates in Haddon Heights who is working for park organizers.

That is among the factors that make it an ideal location, she told board members.

Some in the audience questioned if that is enough. Some riders at the Chatsworth facility complained it was too small, "and that's one of the concerns I'd have," said Julie Akers of Atlantic County, who with her husband, Fred, has been a critic of the Gloucester County Green Acres site.

The off-road group is seeking a variance to operate in a residential zone, just the first in a series of approvals the park needs. Organizers would need to return to the township for site plan approval and submit their plan for an environmental review under the state Coastal Area Facility Review Act.

Board members and members of the public pressed questions about possible future expansion of trails onto nearby state land — an option that Freitas last month said is no longer being considered. Documents from the Atlantic group's early trails grant application mentioned the possibility of using 300 acres of neighboring state land, but "that plan is no longer on the table," said Cecilia Byrne Schmidt, a landscape architect developing the conceptual plan for the park.

Township police Capt. Richard Buzby, who last month questioned Freitas on that same issue, gave the board more internal documents he obtained from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Those documents show the Green Acres program looked into allowing riders access, and potential impacts on threatened and endangered plant and animal species, Buzby said.

Wildlife roadkill was on the mind of Margit Jackson, a Sierra Club member from neighboring Eagleswood. "How are you going to educate these people?" she said. "How many miles per hour do they have to be going to see a snake? Let's be realistic."

Training riders to operate their machines in an environmentally responsible manner is one goal of the park, according to Freitas and his professionals. A planned reception center at the park would have an exhibit on Pine Barrens ecology, and riders would learn about it as part of their first visit to the facility, Freitas says.

"How long do you think you'll need to put this project together and get it done, so people around here can start to enjoy it?" asked Lindsey Pirie of Port Republic, an off-road motorcycle rider and one of the original organizers of the Chatsworth park.

Site work to convert the Shoreline Materials site should take just six months, Schmidt said. But there is no telling how long it will take to get other state and local approvals, she added.

The debate in the township is having repercussions in Trenton, where advocates for environmental and riders groups had agreed to cooperate on proposed new enforcement measures for illegal off-road riding, in exchange for support from the state Department of Environmental Protection in locating three sites to become off-road parks.

The DEP's trail council has worked on locating those sites since former DEP commissioner Bradley Campbell promised that support in 2005, Flynn said. The Atlantic Off-Highway proposal came in from left field outside that process, and it has moved forward with the help of a Federal Highways Administration grant for motorized recreation.

"The agreement, I guess you could say, is still in force," said Jaclyn Rhoads of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. The DEP is setting up a meeting with the interest groups to discuss potential locations she said.

One tract, a state Green Acres property in Gloucester County, has run into opposition from neighbors and environmental groups. When it comes to winning local approvals for off-road parks, "we've always said that's not our problem," Rhoads said.

But riders say their support for stricter enforcement rules is entirely contingent on having more legal places to ride.