Park board hears request from ATV club
LUZERNE TWP. – Two men Wednesday asked the Brownsville Luzerne Park Board to consider allowing an all-terrain vehicle club to use an area of Patsy Hillman Park. Buzz Gilleland of Brownsville and Bob Johnson of Hiller asked the park board to consider designating an area of the park for ATV riders, without requiring the club to obtain insurance.
“Every quad run I’ve ever been on, you sign a waiver. The landowners are not responsible,” Gilleland said.
Gilleland said quad riders are being cited by police regularly in Brownsville, Hiller and Penncraft and local riders would welcome a designated riding area where they could bring their quads in on trailers.
“In this area we could probably get 60 to 70 people,” Gilleland said.
Brownsville Council member Tracy Sheehan Zivkovich said that with an annual dues or users’ fee, the proposal could be cost neutral for the park, even if the borough had to purchase additional insurance to cover the activity.
“Right now the insurance is through the borough and we don’t have insurance for this type of activity,” Zivkovich said. “Even with the waivers, you would need a rider to cover this.”
Zivkovich said the insurance riders generally cost $1,000-$2,000, which could be offset by the registration or users fees.
Park board member Bob Bevard raised questions about who would be in charge of making sure the ATV’s stayed in the designated area and were brought to the park on trailers and not ridden in illegally on the road. He also questioned the liability issues.
“I’d have to see it in black and white that in Pennsylvania it’s legal and that we aren’t liable. I have no problem if it’s legal and we aren’t liable,” Bevard said.
“We’re not going to let this die. We’re going to look into it,” said Frank Ricco, the park board president.
Bevard reported that the recent cleanup day at the park was successful, with a large number of volunteers showing up. Bevard said many of the volunteers were high school students and the group picked up four dumpsters of trash.
“They did a fantastic job. What I’d like to see, maybe we can have one in the spring and one in the fall,” Bevard said of the cleanup day.
Bevard said repairs are needed at the Redstone pavilion, including the replacement of much of the wood on the structure. Bevard said it would probably take several thousand dollars to put the pavilion into good repair. He’s already spent more than five days working on repairs at the site.
“I don’t mind putting the time in to help out, but I’m here by myself. I need someone to help me,” Bevard said. “We could change the park for the better, but we’ve got to get people interested.”