By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — City Council members pumped the brakes on plans to create new regulations meant to crack down on ATVs and dirt bikes being driven illegally on public streets after a motorcycle advocacy group raised issue with the proposal.
Alderman Chad Tuneberg made a motion Monday night to delay a vote on the ordinance after he said he was contacted late in the day by ABATE Illinois, which advocates for the rights of motorcycle and ATV riders in the state. His motion received a second, requiring automatic layover under City Council rules.
Tuneberg said ABATE is willing to work with the city to address the issues it faces with illegally driven ATVS, but the group raised several technical issues with the language in the proposed ordinance.
“They found a number of technicalities that they are willing to help our legal department with in cleaning up before the ordinance goes through,” Tuneberg said.
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Tuneberg said he was concerned that if the ordinance moved forward as is, it could face legal challenges that would force the city to spend taxpayer dollars defending its rules.
“I want this ordinance to be clean, powerful and effective in fighting this issue that we have in our city,” he said.
Tuneberg didn’t elaborate on the specific issues ABATE raised.
However, in an email sent to alderman, which the Rock River Current obtained separately, the group raised issue with several key points of the proposal including the registry, prohibiting fueling of vehicles unless on a trailer and impounding with probable cause.
“ABATE does not support the illegal operation of off-highway vehicles on public roads and is sympathetic to the issues affecting Rockford, however we believe that the ordinance as proposed has the potential to violate the rights of off-road riders along with current state law,” the group said in the email. “We feel that it would be better to work together on this issue rather than opposed to one another.”
ABATE said that the language that would prohibit ATVs from being fueled unless on a trailer does not limit the definition of fueling to a gas station, which could create issues for drivers fueling up on private property or using a pickup bed or other mode to transport the vehicle.
The city’s proposal would have made it illegal both to fuel off-road vehicles or for gas stations to allow them to be fueled.
“We have to get to the source of their mobility, which is fuel,” Mayor Tom McNamara said Friday before the City Council meeting. “We are simply trying to avoid those ATVs and dirt bikes that are pulling up or driving up and pumping gas right there and then going right back onto the roads, which is illegal.”
ABATE also raised issue with the proposal allowing police to impound vehicles from public and private property with probable cause.
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“I cannot begin to describe the level of lawsuit you would be setting the City of Rockford up for if an officer were to impound a vehicle in this manner,” Josh Witkowski of ABATE of Illinois said in the email.
He laid out an example where an officer may impound the wrong vehicle without a warrant.
“Now the owner has to present a preponderance of evidence to show that it’s the wrong vehicle and will likely sue the city over the wrongful seizure,” Witkowski wrote. “I know of more than a few attorneys who would love to take this kind of case.”
Offenders caught illegally driving the vehicles under the proposal could have their ATV or dirt bike impounded and face fines up to $750.
ABATE also raised issue with the vehicle registry, saying such registration rules can only be imposed by the state. The city’s proposal would not create a fee for registration.
McNamara previously said he hopes the new rules will help the city crack down on the illegal driving of the vehicles, “and make it safer on the streets for pedestrians, cyclists as well as other vehicles.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.