The Chaffee County Commissioners will be considering new proposals to open county roads to unlicensed OHV use (ATVs and dirt motorcycles)

These roads are currently off limits to these vehicles according to Colorado Revised Statute 33-14.5 108.   This statute also gives the county the right to open selected county roads to this use.

You can read the proposal by clicking here, which will take you to a file posted on the county website with the details.

.Public input meetings are scheduled to further discuss this:

 Meeting 1. Wednesday February 1, 2012, 1:00 PM at the Buena Vista Community Center in the Aspen Room. Focus on the Fourmile Area/Buena Vista area roads.
CR 304, 305, 309, 315, 371 and the remainder of 307 and 187 have been requested for opening; also discuss CR 344 and CR 390.

 Meeting 2. Wednesday February 8, 2012, 1:00 PM at the County Administration Building in Salida in the Commissioners Meeting Room. Focus on Salida and Turret area roads.
CR 184, 185, 173 and 176 have been requested for opening.

 Meeting 3. Wednesday February 15, 2012, 1:00 PM at the Mt. Princeton Conference Center. Focus on St. Elmo and Alpine area roads.
CR 267, 292, 295 and 296 will be reviewed for opening.

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Things you can do/Action to take: 

1) Please try to attend a meeting. 
 Realize that many of these county roads are linked so there will be cumulative and far reaching impacts from opening roads in one area on other distant areas.  The meeting and roads considered in BV will impact Salida, and Salida meeting will impact BV.
     If you plan to attend a meeting, please sign up to speak upon entering the meeting and let us know in advance that you plan to attend.

2) Please spread the word about this issue and these meetings.
With your friends and neighbors  
Address of this page to share:  http://www.quietuse.org/County-Road-OHV

3) Please contact us for more details and continue to check this page for updates. 
info@quietuse.org  719-207-4130

4)  If you can not attend a meeting, please voice your concerns to the commissioners  and request to be put on the contact list for this issue via:

Email: Send to all
dgiese@chaffeecounty.org, fholman@chaffeecounty.org, dpotts@chaffeecounty.org, bchristianse@chaffeecounty.org, dreimer@chaffeecounty.org,  pbaldwin@chaffeecounty.org

Phone:
Don Reimer, County Development Director 719-530-5566
Robert Christiansen Director of Administration 719-539-2218
Frank Holman Chairman Commissioner Dist.#2 719-539-2218
Dennis Giese Commissioner District #1 719-539-2218
Dave Potts Commissioner District #3 719-539-2218
Don Reimer, County Development Director 719.530.5566
Robert Christiansen Director of Administration 719.539.2218
Tom Eve Public Input meeting Moderator 719-539-6418

US mail:
Chaffee County Commissioners
POB 699
Salida, CO 81201

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Where are these roads?
Click here for a written description of the location of the roads proposed for opening.

     For a more detailed .pdf map, showing all county roads proposed for opening on the east side of Chaffee County (Roads to be considered at the Feb 1 and Feb 8 public input meetings), click HERE
    For a map of the CR 390 and 344, which are also going to be considered on Feb 1, please click HERE
     For a map of the roads to be considered for opening in the Alpine/St. Elmo area at the Feb 15 meeting, click HERE


     You can enlarge these maps to zoom in on areas, and see how all the OHV routes would interconnect to provide a link from Salida to Buena Vista.

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Mountain Mail news Article on OHV proposal
Click here to read this from Jan 25

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Why is this a concern?

    Allowing OHVs on Chaffee County roads will create unsafe mixed use conditions on these county roads that are primarily used for transportation by residents and businesses that depend on these roads.   Land owners, residents, visitors, wildlife and others using or living along these roads will be forced to endure higher levels of noise, exhaust emissions, pollution and dust from recreational OHV use.  Some OHV users frequently do not obey all the rules and regulations regarding OHV use. The high impact nature of this use means that only a few irresponsible OHV riders can cause serious negative impacts to adjacent public and private landscapes.   OHV use is not an appropriate activity in all places, and this proposal has the potential to change the very nature of Chaffee County.

     The County has not done an adequate job of educating OHV riders about where they can and can not go on Chaffee County roads, and what the rules are regarding OHV use on the few county roads that they are allowed on.  Click HERE  to view a .pdf file with recent photos of continued illegal and unauthorized OHV use on Chaffee County roads.