Miguel Forest sits in his UTV next to Mayor Denis Fillion

Residents of St Pierre are being encouraged to follow updated rules about ATV use in the village.  Mayor Denis Fillion says they have changed their off road vehicle bylaw.  "It's not a complete revision but we have added a definition of a UTV which is a utility terrain vehicle or side-by-side type of ATV."

He notes they also changed the mapping in order to give riders better and safer access to get in and out of the community.  Fillion adds they have also established a series of fines.  "We have given the bylaw a little bit more teeth so that the RCMP can enforce it a bit easier.  Hopefully it will work."  He notes local RCMP have ATVs so they can go out and follow wherever ATVs can go.

"It's been a concern for many years," Fillion recalls.  One of the biggest problems he has is the ATV users do not respect the bylaws.  "And we have the public speaking very loudly against the use of them, period!  So we had to come up with a bylaw that we hope will satisfy everyone rather than coming up with a bylaw to completely say no to ATVs in town."

He says fines start at $100 for the first offence, second offence is $300 and third is $1000.  "These are fairly steep so if someone keeps offending there's a point where it will cost them a lot more than the ATV itself."

Fillion adds it's not drastic but it should be enough to spur change.  "We are giving a last chance to ATV owners to obey the bylaws.  If that doesn't work there is only going to be one other option and that is eliminating the use of ATVs within the town limits."