Newport residents will get to vote on whether ATVs should be allowed to travel through the center of the city.
A group of citizens has gathered enough signatures to trigger a citywide vote on whether to overturn an ordinance allowing ATV travel on roads throughout downtown. The City Council passed the ordinance on Oct. 21.
Petitioners turned in 234 valid signatures Tuesday, according to City Clerk Jim Johnson, surpassing the 5% of Newport voters, or 181 signatures, needed to force a vote on the ordinance.
Organizers said they collected more than 250 signatures.
“We believe that members of our community should have a say in what happens in our City,” resident Amy Gillespie, one of the petition organizers, said in a press release. “The actions of the Mayor, City Manager, and most of the City Council on October 21st showed that our concerns don’t matter to them.”
Councilors now have 60 days from Tuesday to set a date for residents to decide whether to keep the ordinance, which drew big crowds and strong opinions to three meetings this fall before the Council adopted it in a 3-1 vote.
As in other Northeast Kingdom communities this year, debate in Newport has centered on whether potential business boosts from ATVers would offset concerns about noise, traffic and safety.
Many speakers at those meetings — including Mayor Paul Monette and City Manager Laura Dolgin — backed the idea. They emphasized the need to encourage tourism in the Orleans County city.
Others, including some City Council members, believed the decision had been rushed, and that officials had ignored the concerns of people in neighborhoods that ATVs would travel through. Council President Julie Raboin, who opposed the ordinance, joined residents in calling for a public vote.
A group of citizens began organizing the petition effort shortly after the council’s decision.
“The actual results of vote — it doesn’t matter,” resident Pam Ladds, part of the group, said at the time. “The outcome is that people in Newport are included in major decisions like this.”
Johnson, the clerk, said the vote would likely come in mid-January, based on requirements for warning periods.
Scott Jenness, president of the Orleans County–based Borderline Ridge Riders ATV club, was the chief advocate for the ordinance as the Council considered it.
He did not respond to a voicemail Wednesday seeking comment on the petition’s success. In a post on his group’s Facebook page, he called on members to encourage citizens to vote against overturning the ordinance.
“It’s a sad day in local politics when the elected Newport City councils decision to allow ATV into downtown on a 5 month trial basis in hopes of bringing economic benefits to a City in Need is being undermined by these individuals which were spearheaded by the lone council member who didn’t approve the ordinance!” he wrote in the Tuesday post.
In comments on the Facebook post, members of the group said opponents’ resistance to change would harm the city.
