Nelson Fletcher, president of the North Bay ATV Club, makes a public presentation to City Council during Monday night's meeting. Fletcher and his group believe enacting a new bylaw could spur new tourism in town. PHOTO BY LIAM BERTI
North Bay’s tourism sector is seriously missing out on a big opportunity.
At least that’s according to Nelson Fletcher and the North Bay ATV Club, who are making a push to make North Bay more ATV friendly.
Fletcher, the president of the club, made a public presentation during Monday night’s City Council meeting in front of a crowd of people wearing “Support ATV Tourism” shirts, during which he highlighted a 270-page document of background information he provided to councillors.
Council later voted unanimously in favour of referring the subject to city staff for a follow up report and recommendation.
“Without bringing it into their attention, they may not have known that we could be grabbing a bigger piece of the pie for tourism,” Fletcher said after the meeting.
Fletcher’s presentation is the latest effort by the group to push for the city to enact a new ATV bylaw in North Bay. The group is arguing that the city’s bylaws haven’t kept up with the rapid pace of the demand for ATV usage in the area and the potential upside that can bring.
As it stands, he argued, there is very little reason for ATV enthusiasts to choose North Bay as their destination.
He said by no means is the group lobbying for all roads to be open to the four-wheelers and clarified that the group has no interest in being granted the use of the Kate Pace Way.
Instead, Fletcher identified an extensive list of crucial roads, strategically chosen to increase access to local restaurants, hotels and gas stations, including Sunset Boulevard, Banner Avenue, Lakeshore Drive from Banner to Birches Road, Mariah Street and Marshall Avenue, among many others.
“There would have to be a bylaw enacted, that would be the big thing,” said Fletcher. “There’s no bylaw that says you can’t, but in order to do it there has to be a bylaw that says you can.”
Jake Lacourse, the director of sales and marketing at the Clarion Resort and first vice president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, argued that the attraction of ATV tourism could fill a void in the local scene.
Lacourse made a follow-up presentation to show support for the ATV club and their objective, calling attention to the general downward trend in local hotel occupancy rates over recent years.
Most recently he said occupancy rates in local hotels were approximately 52 per cent, down from upwards of 57 per cent just a few years ago.
“There are several members of the Hospitality Organizations Strengthening Tourism association that will significantly benefit from this sort of tourism,” Lacourse argued. “Our association is quite hungry for new opportunities to bring new tourism dollars to the community. It just seems to be a natural fit.
“These enthusiasts come from a typically higher disposable income bracket and they come fully licensed and prepared to spend money right here in our community,” he continued.
Lacourse was also speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, saying they are 100 per cent behind the ATV Club in their effort.
But not everyone in attendance was as convinced by the presentation. Coun. Sarah Campbell was vocal in her concern for how the common North Bay resident outside of the tourism industry will be affected.
“I think this is one for the public first and foremost, the taxpayers of our city,” said Campbell. “We need to know if they’re really in consent with using city streets; they live on them, they pay the taxes.”
When it comes to the noise level of the ATVs, Fletcher cited recent studies and first-hand experiments that show the relative sound of an ATV compared to a police car siren, motorcycles and even an air conditioning unit.
“Your neighbour mowing the lawn is almost just as loud, and that’s running for half an hour to an hour, whereas an ATV is just going by your house,” said Fletcher.
With regards to accountability, Fletcher was quick to call attention to the fact that all ATVs and their drivers must be licensed, insured and must follow the same rules as any other licensed vehicle while adhereing to the Off-Road Vehicles Act.
Elsewhere, the group is only seeking that the trail system be open to ATVs during the summer months. Fletcher did say that the North Bay Snowmobile Club has already reached out to his group to potentially form a partnership.
Fletcher said he was hopeful that a city decision would be in place in time for the world’s largest ATV and snowmobile show in Toronto at the end of October.
“I would definitely like to be able to tell well over 150,000 people that go through that building that North Bay is the place to visit,” said Fletcher.
But, as Coun. Dave Mendicino pointed out, by the time the report is put forward and the process is complete, it will likely fall on the next council to make a decision some time in Spring 2015.
“This is an idea that’s definitely worth looking at,” said Mendicino. “When you’re talking about tourism, we experienced similar problems with snowmobiles a number of years ago.
“We did do some minor amendments to allow limited access to some motels and gas stations for snowmobiles coming off the lake, and I see this as somewhat similar.”
The North Bay ATV Club is in its second year of existence and currently has 260 signatures on their online petition as well as 130 emailed signatures.
Other Northern Ontario towns such as Sudbury and Elliot Lake already allow ATV use on certain city roads.
