A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources decision to seek development of a 70-mile all-terrain vehicle trail in St. Louis, Itasca or Aitkin-Cass counties could be made as early as Tuesday.
“We’ll be meeting with Itasca County on Monday,” said Ron Potter, DNR off-highway vehicle program coordinator. “By Tuesday, we could know.”
In 2003, the state Legislature passed a law that directs the DNR to plan, design, designate and provide signs for a new 70-mile all-terrain vehicle/off-highway motorcycle trail somewhere within the state.
Becker County had been the preferred location, but withdrew from the process in the face of opposition.
That leaves offers by St. Louis, Itasca and Aitkin-Cass counties on the table.
St. Louis County commissioners say they still support developing the trail within the county, but not all the lines of a conceptual route that appeared Sept. 27 in the News Tribune.
“I am in favor of developing a route,” Commissioner Peg Sweeney of Duluth said Tuesday at a County Board meeting in Duluth. “I support the idea of developing a trail system for them. I just think this one (the conceptual route) is a bad idea.”
The conceptual route, north of Duluth, was developed about two years ago by the county with help from the North Shore ATV club, said Mark Weber, St. Louis County Land Department resource management supervisor.
However, residents in the Thompson Lake area in recent days have written and e-mailed county commissioners, complaining that the conceptual route would cross private lands, use ditches along county roads in front of their homes and increase the danger of ATV-car crashes.
“What we’re concerned about is noise, dust and so on,” said Robert Hoffman, a Thompson Lake resident. “We’re not against a trail. We say, ‘Go ATV.’ But our big concern is for safety.”
Another version of the conceptual route was later provided by the DNR and published in the News Tribune.
County commissioners on Tuesday said they support developing a trail within the county, but not a specific trail.
“Our resolution is not about a trail, but about getting on the bid list,” said Commissioner Dennis Fink of Duluth. “Then it’s a process of outlining where a trail could go.”
The DNR will make its decision based largely on the amount of county and state tax-forfeited lands available within each county, Potter said.
