Port will wait on Saukville before deciding ATV issue

An ordinance that would allow all-terrain and utility-terrain vehicles to operate on some Town of Port Washington roads has been drawn up, but it will be some time before the Town Board holds a public hearing on the proposed law.

That’s because board members said Monday they will wait to hold the hearing until the Town of Saukville takes up the issue of allowing ATVs and UTVs on town roads.

At issue is Northwoods Road. The Town of Port has jurisdiction over one side of the road while the Town of Saukville has control of the other side.

On roads with shared jurisdiction, the more restrictive law takes precedent, which means that ATVs and UTVs could not operate on Northwoods unless both towns agree to allow the vehicles.

“It’s not practical (to pass the ordinance without Northwoods Road included),” Town Chairman Mike Didier said. “The connectivity is terrible without Northwoods. I think it will just confuse things.” 

Northwoods, he said, would be a major connection point for ATV and UTV drivers on the west side of the township.

That’s because the proposed ordinance would only allow these utility vehicles to operate on town roads with a speed limit of 35 miles or less, and there are a limited number of these roadways in the township.

Didier said he talked to Saukville Town Chairman Kevin Kimmes about the matter and the issue of allowing utility vehicles hasn’t come up there yet.

Until it does, Didier said, the Town of Port won’t move ahead with its proposed ordinance.

“We have to figure that out,” he said.

In May, the Port Town Board was asked by the Lakeshore ATV/UTV Club to pass an ordinance allowing these recreational vehicles to use town roads.

It was the third Ozaukee County community to consider such an ordinance at the time. The Town of Fredonia last year became the first township in the county to allow the use of these vehicles on town roads, and the Town of Belgium approved a similar measure this summer.

The Town of Port’s proposed ordinance was based in large part on the Town of Fredonia’s law, Didier said. It allows the use of utility vehicles on town roads with speed limits of 35 miles an hour or less.

They are prohibited, however, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The Belgium Village Board will take up the topic when it meets next week.