ORVAW Meeting May 7th in Lansing

[TWEAK]

Just as a reminder the spring meeting of the ORVAW is coming up next week on May 7th in Lansing. The meeting starts at 6:30pm at the Ramada Inn (27501 West Saginaw Highway, Lansing, Michigan 48917).

The full agenda is posted here: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...4_454567_7.pdf

The DNR is on the agenda to describe what is being proposed as the "new" event permit language. If they show up it should be good discussion on the direction of where this policy will go in accordance of PA119 that was passed last September (known as SB50).

I'm planning on being there.

[WhiteRhino]

Wish I could make it but will be out of town on business. Thanks for posting. I hope the event permit gets lots of discussion.

[Gogolen]

Did anyone go to this? If so what's the latest on permit requirements?

[WhiteRhino]

I can't speak first hand but it sounds like they are moving in our direction.

[shawn]

I missed this. I could have made it to this meeting. Curious what was discussed.

[TWEAK]

Here are my notes/comments from the last ORVAW Meeting:

Southeastern ORV Park/Scramble Area
Work is continuing to locate a place in SE Michigan for an ORV Park/Scramble Area. As you may recall from last year the location that was being targeted in Oxford was opposed by the community. Alternative locations were identified and are in the process of being reviewed for their compatibility with the hope of having a "test run" toward the end of summer. Although the first test run will be invite only, the goal is to then hopefully be able to open up some additional test days to the public come fall 2014. There seems to be a lot of momentum behind obtaining and building this park, and as such things will hopefully move along quickly.

SB 50 ORV Event Permit Update
*Last September, SB50 (PA119) was signed into law and mandated changes to the DNR's event permit language. Since its passing, we have been struggling to make sure that the changes are made to reflect the new legislation. Per the previous MSTAC (Michigan Snowmobile & Trails Advisory Consul), the DNR was asked to review the draft event permit triggers with the ORVAW. The DNR came in with what they had previously but went line by line and modified it based on the discussion. Here are the areas that were modified:

The language around saying if you have 20 or more people that you are required to notify the DNR has been removed, so there is no requirement to notify to "see if you need a permit".

Additionally the section around having a requirement if there is a fee or donation required will be modified to say if it is commercially operated. The exact verbiage was not finalized in the meeting but the takeaway was that if the only item was monetary then they were only looking to require this from events that are doing it for commercial purposes (most of these would have other triggers anyways). It was agreed that clubs running an "organized" event and collecting funds to provide a banquet meal would not cause this to be triggered.

Performance bonds (i.e. Road Bonds) can now be used across an entire year, instead of doing one for each event.

Finally the last sticky area for us around needing a permit because of "Natural Resources will be impacted" was to be modified to imply that it would be impacted severely beyond normal usage.

The exact verbiage was not agreed upon in the meeting, but the DNR agreed to make these changes (plus some others) to reflect these scenarios.

​This will be taken back to the MSTAC meeting in July, and if agreed upon there, should be implemented.

Additionally I did ask about reimbursements once implemented and the current ​advise is that permits issued after the 90 day window where this was supposed to be implemented and would not have required a permit will have the funds reimbursed.

ORV Meeting Date/Location Change

The date and location for the next ORVAW has been changed and will now be Thursday July 24th @ 6:30pm. Although an exact location has not been determined, it will be held in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

[gnjeepn]

Thanks for posting this. I will pass it onto our membership.

[hemrides]

Thanks for the feedback....What are Performance or Road Bonds for???

Dave

[phittie1100]

Rob I am trying not to read too much into the SB50 issue, but correct me if my interpretation is wrong.

SnoFari and DOA would not need permits under this new interpretation.

SnoFari took place 98 days (guessing, but >90 days after passage of SB50) and should receive a refund of their permit fee

No more language that says "call us and we will tell you if we think you need a permit"

I am having a tough time with this as it seems like this is a win win for ORV users.

If you burst my bubble, be gentle!

Sent from my electronic tether

[ROVER86CJ7]

Thank you Rob for taking the time to attend this meeting.. I hope to attend the next meeting. Lets keep the GREAT information out there so our voices may be heard!