By Jaimie Cura
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The Patch.com
Ten years ago, State Rep. Anthony
D'Amelio, (R-74th District), bought two all-terrain vehicles for himself and
his son. But in order to legally ride them, they had to go to Massachusetts.
"There are no legal ATV trails in the state of Connecticut," he said. "We were
forced to register our ATVs in Massachusetts
because there's lots of trails there, but you have to register."
Eventually, D'Amelio, who represents Middlebury and Waterbury in the Connecticut House of
Representatives, bought dirt bikes.
"It was too hard to go to Massachusetts
whenever we wanted to ride," he said. "There are a lot of trails in Connecticut for dirt
bikes, but not ATVs.
Durham's
Conservation Commission Considers Strengthening ATV Ban
D'Amelio recently introduced two bills to
the Connecticut General Assembly:
House Bill No. 5145: An act concerning the registration of ATVs
House Bill No. 5147: An act concerning riding trails for ATVs
On Jan. 10, the bills were referred to
the Joint Committee on Environment. Both proposed bills are attached to this
article as PDFs.
This isn't the first time D'Amelio
proposed bills pertaining to ATVs in Connecticut.
He said in the past, the state Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection didn't support the bill due to not having the funds to maintain the
trails.
"That's where the registration comes in," he said.
Requiring Connecticut
residents to register their ATVs for $30 means those fees can go toward trail
maintenance, said D'Amelio. Trails already exist in the state that could be
suitable for ATV-riding, he said.
'It's high time the state of Connecticut recognizes
that a lot of ATVs out there are driven illegally because there's no legal
place to drive them," he said. "I'd like to stop that."
