Little Blue OHV Club News
By Dan Nitzel
Local officials with the towns of Deshler and Hebron continue to work on obtaining land for a proposed ATV and dirtbike park in the area. Members of the Little Blue OHV Club, a chapter of NOHVA, continue to raise funds for the park with raffles, poker runs and such. They are anxiously waiting to hear news of an agreement to purchase land. On August 14th the NOHVA Board of Directors voted to give the chapter $2000.00 from the NOHVA treasury. The money will be paid in two installments. One $1,000.00 installment will be made this year and one will be made next year. Both installments will be held until land is purchased.
Before I go any further with details, I want to make it understood that this is the first project like this in Nebraska. Everyone involved is getting their feet wet for the first time. The experience gained from this project will be incorporated into future ATV and dirtbike parks in Nebraska. While we all would like to see the project be completed today, it is going to take some time and planning. The Dismal River Trail at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey took about nine years to complete, from proposal to ribbon cutting. The Headworks OHV Park near Genoa was closed in 1996 for over a year after a flood, only to get re-opened with considerable effort. The Flat Rock Riders project in Sutherland where land was already available took three years to get opened from the first meeting, and took another two years to get funding for improvements.
The Little Blue OHV Park will be funded primarily with money from the U.S. Government, Department of Transportation via the Recreational Trails Program, or RTP. Matching funds will be used with the federal funds from the Cities of Deshler and Hebron, the Little Blue OHV Club, the Nebraska Off Highway Vehicle Association (NOHVA) and other parties. The RTP funding that Nebraska receives is allocated to the State of Nebraska via the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. The Commission has been involved in a few hiking and biking projects, this will be their first motorized project. With this in mind, existing rules on how federal funds can be spent while following the law need to be defined for the first time in Nebraska. Some rules need to be invented. Many of these rules exist because of prior bad experiences with similar projects like ours. While we hate to wait, government projects usually take time.
Much of the burden to make sure the “I”s are dotted and the “T”s crossed fall upon the shoulders of Alan Holle, Pat Kenner, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and the Cities of Deshler and Hebron. Failure to properly follow the rules of the law concerning projects like this can result in funding being taken away and criminal actions against those involved.
As of this writing, the land for the project has not been acquired. However, negotiations are underway to purchase land from several land owners. After a preliminary agreement has been made, a public hearing will be held along with discussions among local Little Blue OHV Club and NOHVA members. Little Blue chapter officers and NOHVA members will be involved in approving a tract of land before one is agreed upon.
Please note that the following details are subject to change and are at best only estimates. We hope to have an agreement to purchase the land completed sometime between August 2007 and early 2008. Before the land can be purchased, an appraisal must be completed and environmental assessments and zoning issues addressed.
When the purchase of the land is finalized, a park concept will be proposed. The park concept will be developed by a nationally recognized OHV trail and park specialist, with direction and input from Little Blue OHV Club members, NOHVA, the inter-local committee, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and the Cities of Deshler and Hebron. The plan described by the completed concept will be used as a preliminary plan and will not be set in stone. However, the concept will not be radically changed unless parts of the concept endanger the prospects of receiving a future RTP grant or other unforeseen circumstances. The concept is a requirement to apply for further RTP funding of the park, and to define the desires and needs of local riders, and to satisfy design criteria questions required to apply for further funding and zoning issues. Riding rules, security and other issues including any fee structures will be addressed at this time. Trails and tracks will be designed to be as “sustainable”, meaning that they are enjoyable to ride on, low maintenance, and environmentally acceptable. Time line for this is one to eight months.
Once the concept is completed, a proposal for another RTP grant can be submitted to the RTP Committee and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. After matching funds are arranged and the next RTP grant is approved, parking area, trails, shelters, etc. for the park can begin.
The park will not be open to the public until the land is purchased, boundaries are established, rules are completed, a parking area developed, and security details are agreed upon.
In closing, I ask that we respect the deeds of those who are working to make our dream of a new ATV and dirtbike park a reality. This project is going to take time, patience and perseverance. Along with many, many others, I am looking forward to our dream of opening of the park as soon as possible. Let’s work to make this project right the first time, and a project that we can all be proud of and our children will enjoy!
Little Blue OHV Club meeting minutes:
Meeting Minutes: May 14, 2007
The meeting was called to order by President, Bill Vodicka. There were 9 members present and 1 guest. Roll call was signed. The minutes were read and approved. Old business included discussion of the garage sale. There has been a change and we will not be holding a garage sale during the Hebron Community Wide garage sales as that is the weekend for the Jamboree in Genoa and we felt it was more important to support NOHVA by attending and helping out with that, than doing the garage sale. We also discussed if any of the members would like to come up and join us and we could all camp together. They will let us know if they are interested. The Garage sale for Deshler is still on June 2nd. We will meet on Thursday night and set up around 7 p.m. We will also have baked goods to sell as well if anyone would like to make something and wrap it individually.
New Business included a Poker Run that we will sponsor. Larry and Kris Siebenneicher will plan the route and make up flyers to hand out. This will be held on July 22nd, 2007. We will have a meal at the end when winners are announced and this will be included in the fee. We also discussed having raffle prizes for any event that we attend. Getting some tickets and just having items given away when we have events going on. We have obtained some prizes already from the community so these will be given at those times. We plan so far to do the Garage Sale, Deshler Daze events, possibly the County Fair, and the Poker Run.
We got a copy of parade rules from NOHVA and anytime we do an activity with their name attached we will have to follow these rules. Anyone not wishing to follow these rules will not need to participate in any parade that we are in. A copy of these will be typed up and handed out, should we decide to participate in parades this Summer.
The meeting was then adjourned by President, Bill Vodicka.
Ann Vodicka, Secretary
Little Blue OHV Chapter
Meeting Minutes: June 12, 2007
The meeting was called to order by President, Bill Vodicka. There were 9 members present and 1 guest. Roll call was signed. The minutes were read and approved. The Garage Sale was a pretty good success. We raised over $ 150.00. Thanks to all members who helped out and donated items for sale. Discussion then turned to the Deshler Daze events that are planned. Kris suggested that we have a time limit on each person riding the course. We have pop and popcorn that we will sell for twenty five cents each. We will also have bottled water that we will sell for $1.00 each. Superior Outdoor Power will provide 2 ATV’s and we will try to arrange to get some smaller ones for the little kids to use. We will have the waivers like last year that need to be signed by parents.
Other fund raisers discussed were the Poker run that is planned for July 22nd. We will also set up and sell fireworks in Deshler. This will take place in a trailer along the road coming into Deshler. The company will provide everything to do this and we will be able to keep any profit that we make. We will try to get ads in the paper and possibly make up some flyers to place around the area. We may run some kind of special to attract buyers. They will deliver the fireworks on Sunday and help us set things up for sale. Sales will not start until June 25th or after.
We plan to have a booth at the Thayer County Fair this year. Ann will call and arrange for a booth at the fair and we will have some prizes to be given away then. Some will be saved for the Poker Run. We have not decided on entering any parades as of yet but are thinking about attending some of these as well.
The meeting night has been changed to Tuesday, and hopefully we will avoid ball games and trouble getting a place to have the meetings. The meetings therefore will be held on the second Tuesday of the month. The next meeting will be held on July 10th at 7:30. The meetings will continue to be held at Grampa’s Crossing in Deshler. Please plan to attend if at all possible.
The meeting was then adjourned by President, Bill Vodicka.
Ann Vodicka, Secretary
Little Blue OHV Chapter
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