Authorizing the Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs to hold hearings on the possibility of developing, designing and constructing a Public Off-Highway Vehicle Park in the City of Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, The operation of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and off highway motorcycles (OHMs) both of the Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) classification are a popular and rapidly growing form of family sponsored recreation; and

WHEREAS, There are 2,000 registered ATVs and countless OHMs owned by citizens of Philadelphia ; and

WHEREAS, No public space within the city is designated or exists as public OHV riding space that would offer safe and legal riding to the public leaving the Delaware State Forest and Central Pennsylvania as the nearest riding area with the Commonwealth ;and

WHEREAS, Riders who engage in the above mentioned riding have expressed a desire for a safe place to ride within the City; and

WHEREAS, A designated space would also provide early education, rider and vocational training, certification, youth development on behalf of the youth and their parents of a City in dire need of a positive distraction from the lure of peer pressure; and

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia is experiencing a exponential rise in the unsafe and illegal OHV riding on public streets and thruways becoming a clear and present hazard to citizens and first responders ;and

WHEREAS, Metropolitan areas such as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Egg Harbor, New Jersey have significantly reduced illegal riding by providing a designated location for safe and legal riding; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council does hereby authorize the Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs to hold hearings on the possibility on developing, designing and constructing a Public Off-Highway Vehicle Park in the City of Philadelphia.

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