ATV track proposed for old farmland in Tiverton

Joseph Ramos said the 2 acres of land where he hopes to build an all-terrain vehicle track on the east side of Fish Road was the site of one of 10 dairy farms in the town “back in the day.”

TIVERTON — Joseph Ramos said the 2 acres of land where he hopes to build an all-terrain vehicle track on the east side of Fish Road was the site of one of 10 dairy farms in the town “back in the day.”

His property at 326 Fish Road, across from Doris Avenue, still has a cinder-block cow barn on it and rock walls, as well as a house he rents out, but animals no longer graze in the fields.

“My goal is to make it useful,” Ramos said of the property in the rear that slopes down into a valley, making it ideal for an ATV course.

He has petitioned the town’s Zoning Board of Review for a variance to allow for open recreation on the land, which is zoned industrial. That zoning designation does not allow for open recreation.

Ramos said the course would be “strictly for ATVs” or quads that have four wheels. He said the gas-powered ATVs make less noise than a lawnmower. Newer models are electric and make no noise, he said.

It would be a small operation, he said, because there would be just three parking spaces.

He called it “wicked small-scale. We’ve got to keep the neighbors happy,” Ramos said.

Some 19 property owners within 200 feet of the site were sent certified letters by the town on Aug. 6 informing them there would be a zoning board hearing on the variance request on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Anyone will be able to comment before the board makes a decision.

It won’t be the first time the board has discussed proposals for open recreation in areas within or close to residential areas.

The board this spring upheld a notice of violation that was issued by the town against a motocross operation on Brayton Road. The owner was ordered to stop operating the business in a residential area. Raymond Johnson’s gravel pit at 691 Brayton Road is nearly 200 acres and contains tracks that he had opened up to riders beginning in 2009, but he stopped the operation several months ago after the zoning board upheld the town’s cease-and-desist order.

Johnson asked the Town Council in April to approve a zoning change that would allow for such operations on parcels of 100 acres or more in R-80 residential zones. There were many proponents at the hearing and many detractors. The council voted 3-3; the tie vote killed the proposal.

Ramos said he had not heard about that operation.

“Where are you going to ride?” Ramos said of people who buy ATVs and find there are “many red lights” when they try to ride them.

An engineering teacher at Somerset-Berkley Regional High School, Ramos said his ATV course has been in the planning stages for “years and years. This is all pivotal on a green light from the zoning board,” he said.