I have seen landfills converted to parks and ski area's but has anyone seen one converted into an ATV park? There are no public riding area's in southern Michigan but there are several landfills that are full. I'm thinking these might be a good area for an ATV park of some sort.

We also have several limestone quarries in southern Michigan and in northwest Ohio. Several years ago one in Monroe was abandoned and there was lots of discussion as to what could be done with it. It was sold to a developer and homes are being built around it - althought they have very tiny yards, its about 80% full of water. I didn't even think about an atv park at the bottom of a quarry at that time. Seems to me noise would not be an issue. It probably would be costly to keep the pumps going though.

Please share some of your idea's and opinions.

 

That sounds like a great idea. People are desperate for places to ride and those places are a good candidate. Somehow we need to figure out a way to reduce or eliminate the liability issues so that an ATV park would be an acceptable use for these areas. Most land owners (cities included) wouldn't touch something like that for fear of tremendous liability and lawyer fees.

ATVer's need to realize that we are entering into a very dangerous activity and that we must be responsible for our own actions and stop suing someone every time we get hurt. However, even if the injured person does not sue the land owner their insurance company will. What can we do?

Wouldn't it be great to have an ATV park in every county at an abandoned gravel pit, quarry, or landfill? Wow! I must be dreaming.

 

I agree, liability is a huge factor. Although I see more and more communities building skate parks and anyone with cable tv has seen numerous kid's - mostly male teenagers, getting maimed by spills. Rarely are they wearing any type of protective gear. The city of Monroe, MI - 20 miles north of Toledo, OH, is seriously looking into adding a skate park. The article I read indicated over $50,000 would be spent on it. I just seems a skate park would create a bigger liabiltity concern than an atv park.