The following is from the online edition of Cycle News.

The only thing odd I find about the following story is that ASA is a party to the litigation. I thought their focus was sand issues, especially the ISDRA.

Does this mean they are using ASA funds to contribute to this lawsuit?

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EcoLogic Partners, Inc., the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), the San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC), the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA), the American Motorcyclists Association District 37 (AMA D37), and the American Sand Association (ASA) filed suit against the County of Riverside alleging that the County's recently adopted Noise and OHV ordinances violate state law. EcoLogic, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), ORBA, The McGrath family and residents of Riverside County have worked for almost two years to help the county craft an ordinance fair to all parties involved. It is unfortunate the Supervisors in Riverside chose to ignore the rights of families in the county to ride OHV's on their own property.

The lawsuit filed in Riverside County Superior court alleges the noise and OHV ordinances violate various state regulations on four separate issues. The noise ordinance is inconsistent with the County's General Plan which is a violation of state planning and zoning laws. The section of the OHV ordinance that requires riders to carry written permission when on private property is in direct conflict with California State Penal Code §602.2. The OHV ordinance also fails to include a "grandfather" clause to protect the vested rights of landowners who have used OHV's on their properties for many years. Finally, the county's environmental review of the two ordinances were wholly inadequate as they have failed to account for the many impacts expected once OHV use on private land becomes subjected to the severe restrictions imposed by these ordinances.

EcoLogic Attorney David Hubbard stated, "We tried to have the deficiencies in this ordinance corrected prior to its approval, the Supervisors chose to ignore our comments and this lawsuit is our only recourse."

Meg Grossglass of ORBA commented, "These ordinances violate state regulations and it is the intent of the OHV organizations involved to protect the rights of recreational riders in Riverside County which has traditionally been the home of many families that recreate together on their own property."

Here's some good news, sort of.

The following is a release from ORBA:

On April 11, 2006, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an OHV ordinance [in California] 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 OHVs 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 [exhaust] 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."

The short answer to that is YES!

Ecologic Partners is exactly that--a partnership. All (5) listed groups contribute equally and decide jointly on the direction the legal work (i.e., Dave Hubbard) does for all. Said the opposite way, the other (4) Partners are helping to pay for the ISDRA's legal issues.

We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.

-- Ben Franklin