Search committee to tell Collier leaders to give up on county ATV park site

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES — A search for an ATV riding spot in Collier County has hit a dead end.

The Collier County citizens committee hunting for land for an off-roaders’ park plans to suggest to county commissioners today that they give up the search in Collier and instead look for partnerships with parks outside of the county.

Finding a location in Collier County had been a priority for some riders, who wanted a family friendly park for dirt bikes and ATVs close to home.

“It’d be nice to be in Collier County, but if it can’t be, it can’t be,” committee Chairman Joe Pelletier said Monday.

In a progress report to commissioners, the search committee members say they have come up empty-handed after sending letters of inquiry to the owners of more than 200 parcels that a consultant identified as viable sites.

The committee has met eight times since July 2012, including meeting with representatives of two large landowners about an ATV site. Landowners either didn’t want to sell or decided an ATV park on their land wouldn’t work out for them.

Committee members also visited a third site off Oil Well Road, but the asking price was too high and the site wasn’t suitable for ATV riding, the committee decided.

Besides those obstacles, the $3 million that county government has set aside for a potential purchase isn’t enough to buy land to build the ATV park, the committee report says.

“That’s really a drop in the bucket to get something like this going,” Pelletier said.

The money came from a 2011 settlement of a lawsuit the county filed against the South Florida Water Management District when that agency failed to find 640 acres for off-roaders.

Water managers had pledged to find the land as part of a 2003 deal by which the county turned over miles of rural roads for an Everglades restoration project; the district argued that a 2007 deal to restore the Lake Trafford muck disposal fulfilled the pledge.

Now that the county’s own search for land in Collier County has failed, it should come as no surprise to county commissioners.

Transcripts of closed-door strategy sessions to discuss the settlement showed that commissioners were doubtful the search would be successful and suggested that the $3 million might be better spent on some other project.

If commissioners give their blessing today, the committee plans to pursue using the $3 million to give Collier residents discounts through partnerships with one or more existing or proposed riding parks.

The committee already has received presentations from the Devils Garden Mud Club in Hendry County, the Lazy Springs Recreation Park near the Collier-Hendry line and Florida Tracks and Trails, which is proposing a park near Punta Gorda.

“We’re going to look at all options,” Pelletier said. “I guess anything’s a possibility.”

Distance isn’t an issue for off-roader Rick Varela, who said he wouldn’t care if the site were 100 miles away as long as Collier County youths had a safe and legal place to ride.

“I’m all for that,” Varela said.

He said it’s a shame that Collier County doesn’t open up some of its existing land for ATV riders: “The reality is that there’s plenty of land in Collier County.”

Varela said that if a partnership with an out-of-county park comes to fruition, he would encourage park users to buy their gas and riding supplies outside of Collier.

“Fair is fair,” he said.

Pelletier said the fruitless search in Collier County hasn’t exhausted his optimism that the committee eventually will be successful.

“It looks promising,” Pelletier said. “I know I’m not giving up.”