Board agrees to open roads for ATVs, UTVs

Village of Wittenberg’s downtown area now open to vehicles
By: 
Luke Reimer
Reporter

ATV and UTV routes have changed in the village of Wittenberg.

After a discussion arose at the Aug. 3 village board meeting, the village board elected to add new routes to where residents and visitors can legally operate their ATV and UTVs.

The roads that were added were Webb Street from Walker Street to Reed Street and Vinal Street from Webb Street to Howard Street.

Wittenberg resident Tommy Krolow was in attendance at the meeting to share his thoughts on what the board should do about the ATV and UTV routes.

“I have talked to a lot of people,” said Krolow. “When they ask me to drive my four-wheeler to their house, I say that I can’t. Other people come to town and they wonder why they can’t drive to certain areas in the village.”

Krolow also said that he tells residents and visitors that there are certain roads that ATV and UTVs are allowed to drive on and certain roads that they are not allowed to drive on.

“I would just like to see people be allowed to drive around to whomever’s house you want to,” said Krolow.

He added that he wanted the board to reconsider opening all of the streets in the village to ATV and UTV use.

According to Krolow and Wittenberg resident Don Aanonsen, visitors from surrounding communities have been driving their ATV and UTVs in the village not knowing that some roads prohibited them.

Board trustee David Timm said that he has heard that there have been issues with younger riders on ATV and UTVs.

“I would like the rest of the board to know that the members of the ATV club in town are aware of the people who are causing problems on the ATV and UTVs,” said Timm. “They are aware of the color of the machines and they talked to some parents so they are working on policing.”

Board trustee Paul Yaeger added to Timm’s statement, saying, “I don’t have a problem with the vehicles, but I see a lot of kids that look like they are 10 or 12 years old and they come through the village and don’t stop or don’t have blinkers. That is the only problem I have here.”

Krolow added that due to problems stemming from young riders, people who operate their vehicles safely are being punished.

“I just feel like I am being punished for people who can’t raise their kids right,” said Krolow.

Yaeger said that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to open up more streets if the behavior continues.

“Until I see something a little bit better than what I am seeing now, I personally would not want to open this up to every street,” said Yaeger. “If they are doing that now, what are they going to do when everything is open?”

Board president Bill Switalla said that he received a call about two people racing their vehicles.

“That is my problem with opening all of the roads,” said Switalla. “People live on residential streets and have complained about the noise. Some people have asked me not to open up the roads for that reason.”

Yaeger suggested that the board could open the downtown roads, including Walker to Reed Streets and Webb to Howard Streets.

Switalla said that the original reason why some streets were open was due to residents having the ability to get to every business in town on their vehicle.

Timm said that he thought that the whole village should be open to ATV and UTVs soon to avoid confusion.

“I would soon open up the whole village,” said Timm. “With some streets being open and some streets not could cause confusion. If you were with the sheriff’s department and had to look at a map to see what streets are open and which aren’t, you could be confused.”

Yaeger suggested that the board should revisit the idea of opening roads to ATV and UTVs in the future.

According to Aanonsen, residents in the Wittenberg community have the opportunity to be trained as assistants to police officers. Their duties would involve identifying vehicles that are disobeying the law and relaying that information to officers, thus helping to eliminate the dangerous behavior.

The board unanimously agreed on opening Webb Street from Walker Street to Reed Street and Vinal Street from Webb Street to Howard Street. Trustees Renee Switalla, Marlene Wepner and Barb Buchholz were absent from the meeting.


lreimer@newmedia-wi.com