A Unity family who wants an ordinance changed so they can ride all-terrain vehicles, quads and dirt bikes on trails on a farm are opposed by the residents of the Cambridge Point housing development near the property.

Township supervisors will be tasked with deciding whether to change the municipality’s ordinance on off-road vehicle raceways, trails and training facilities for areas zoned as farmland.

More than 100 people crammed into the supervisors meeting room in late July for a hearing punctuated by speakers seeking to protect the right to use one’s property in the manner they wish, clashing with neighbors who complained that they hear the dirt bike noise in their homes and that it impacts their quality of life.

“The ordinance essentially puts a ban on pleasure riding. My kids just want to ride on their property,” said Keith Fulton of Windmere Road, who, along with his wife, Kimberly, want the township to relax the rules on dirt bike riding in an area zoned for farms.

The couple bought 34 acres along Myers Road in July 2021 and their family had been riding the ATVs until October, when they were notified that the noise violates the ordinance, Keith Fulton said.

Gary Falatovich, township solicitor, repeatedly said the ordinance does not ban pleasure riding on farmland but does set rules for the use of bike trails.

“Riding on a path is not a trail,” said Matthew Schimizzi, a Greensburg attorney representing the Fultons.

The Fultons proposed the changes after the zoning hearing board denied their request for a special exception to allow them to continue riding on property zoned for agriculture use. The planning commission did not make any recommendation on the proposed changes, Falatovich said, but some members later sent the supervisors emails expressing their opposition.

The Fultons’ want the township to permit motorbike riding on farmland as small as 15 acres, rather than the current 50-acre standard.

Christopher Vecchiola, who lives on Sussex Way and is president of the Cambridge Point Homeowners Association, a housing plan about less than a mile from the Fulton property, questioned why the Fultons want to lower the requirement to 15 acres when they have more than 30 acres.

“Fifteen acres opens it up to more sites,” Vecchiola said.

The Cambridge Point residents are concerned about pollution from the motor bikes, the impact on the quality of their lives and possibly lower property values, Vecchiola said.

A fair interpretation of the existing ordinance is that it applies to businesses such as the Latrobe Speedway, a motorcross racing track on Pleasant Unity Road, Schimizzi said.

“Those are very different situations,” Schimizzi said.

But, Falatovich said the township’s ordinance, most recently amended in 2023, does not prohibit people from riding their ATVs on their farm property. It bans the construction and operation of a trail system on agricultural property without a special exception permit.

“I think there’s a compromise to be reached to satisfy both sides,” Schimizzi said.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the misspelling of Christopher Vecchiola’s name.

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