Most townships within Manitowoc County currently allow ATV and UTV travel within their respective towns. A number of people have asked the county highway committee to take a look at allowing those vehicles to be used on some county roads as well.
The committee chairman is District-12 Supervisor Kevin Behnke. He says, “There are a number of counties, Kewaunee, Calumet, Sheboygan that already have ordinances which allow ATV/UTV travel on certain stretches of county roads. We are at the infancy stage with discussion only at the highway committee meeting the other night..with a mixed reaction of opinion.”
Behnke stated they’ve sent the issue to the Traffic Safety Committee, which includes a mixture of citizen members and the sheriff, Dan Hartwig.
“We want them to take a look at the idea of allowing ATV/UTV travel on county roads, we’d like the corporation counsel look at what the county’s liability might be if we allow this. Also would like the sheriff himself to give us an idea what the implications may be to the sheriff’s department if we would implement this.”
Supervisor Behnke explains the three counties around us that allow ATV/UTV travel on their county roads do so by ordinance on a case-by-case basis through an application process, not a carte blanche approach. Those area residents who would like to provide input on the issue can contact Kevin Behnke directly by phone at 920-323-2577 or by email at townofnewton@gmail.com.
