(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake city council Tuesday voted 3-2 to allow all terrain vehicles on city streets on a year-round basis. The council stopped short of attaching requirements and restrictions to the measure. That will be left up to a committee of council members, the city’s Police Chief and a representative of the City Attorney’s Office. They’ll come up with a draft of a proposed ordinance that will be presented to the full council at a later meeting.
Council members Clyde Ihrke, Kevin Bice and Jerry Harbst voted in favor of the motion, while Jeff Thee and Steve Balm voted no. Thee told the council even though he had received no negative comments about allowing ATV’s on streets year-round, that he was deeply concerned over manufacturer’s warnings regarding the operation of the machines on paved surfaces…(click here to hear comment from Thee.)
Ihrke told the council he was torn on the matter, especially given the fact manufacturers have kits available to make ATV’s more suitable for on road use…(click here to hear comment from Ihrke.).
Councilman Kevin Bice said he wants the council to re-visit the issue on an annual basis or anytime there’s an issue with the ordinance.
In other business, the council awarded a bid of $1,008,268 from Beck Excavating of Spirit Lake for the Lake Street/Memorial Park parking lot project. The bid came in below the engineer’s estimate of $1,012,268.
The council also reviewed plans and revised cost estimates for the Memorial Park project.
