An ATV park on Route 20, Sharon is open again even as owners Pam and Paul Tichy appeal a stop-work order for their Rockville Ridge Motor Sports Park—paperwork the Zoning Board of Appeal’s Brian Sydow said he’s yet to receive.
“I’ve heard the rumors,” Mr. Sydow said Monday of the appeal. “The Mayor asked me the same thing over the weekend. But I haven’t received a thing.”
Rockville Ridge first opened last summer as a family-themed ATV park where riders could trailer in their own vehicles.
The property straddles the town and village line; a ruling by the town ZBA in September 2009 upheld a stop-work order on the grounds that the park wasn’t a permitted use.
Ray Parsons, chairman of the Joint Planning Board, said Monday the Tichys submitted an incomplete application for the project in May and it wasn’t accepted.
Planners gave the couple a list of information they needed from them, he said, “and we never heard back.”
Without the needed permit, Mr. Parsons said, the park is operating illegally and Codes Enforcement Officer Linda Ostrander has issued a stop-work order.
Neighbors to the park have raised the question of noise, dust, and traffic; planners also questioned whether it meets the definition of the an open space use—something it would be up to the ZBA to determine.
Ms. Tichy disputes the claim that the Planning Board is still waiting for paperwork.
“We filed everything we were told we needed,” she said, “and because the Planning Board didn’t act on it, we’re operating under the assumption that we’ve been approved by default.”
Ms. Tichy charged that the Planning Board is working off three different sets of codes law and doesn’t know what is—and isn’t—permitted where.
“I’ve appealed to the ZBA and it’s legal for us to be operating while that’s being decided,” she said.
“We’re up and running and the money our park brings in will benefit all of Sharon Springs. This isn’t a cheap sport to get into and these people are spending their money in the community.”
Rockville Ridge is open weekends only and offers about nine miles of riding trails, Ms. Tichy said.
All vehicles are registered and insured and all riders have to sign in.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sydow said he hasn’t received anything.
“The job of the ZBA is to interpret the code,” he said. “I’ve deliberately kept my distance from this so I can do just that; I do what the law says.
“I’ve heard there’s an appeal coming, but so far, I haven’t gotten a thing.”