Lots of snow? Lots of complaints about snowmobilers

A snowmobile club in Savage is vowing to plant its members out of doors at known trouble spots if that's what it takes to respond to what city officials are calling "numerous" cases of violations by riders.

"We want to know more about these complaints," said Tom (Digger) Anderson, spokesman for the Savage Sno-Pacers. "Give us the color of the snowmobile, the color of the operator's clothing and helmet. We'll literally go out and park and wait for it to happen."

It is hardly a surprise, he added, that complaints are spiking. "I mean, holy cats, the last time we had this much snow was the Halloween blizzard of '91."

The last time tensions surged over snowmobiling in urbanized suburbs was two years ago, when heavy snowfall led to early-season citizen complaints in Carver County to soar from two the previous year to 80.

Behind it all lurks the knowledge that at some point, snowmobiling in suburban Scott County could end up going the way of many suburbs closer in: banned altogether. In Prior Lake, the threat of a ban a few years ago helped bring all parties to the table to work out solutions.

"We ended up producing a map of where the snowmobiles can go," said the city's spokesman, Michael Peterson, "and putting that online seemed to do a lot to help improve things."

Nevertheless, Prior Lake still feels the need to post stern warnings against wrecking the costly paving downtown and offers a hot line for complaints.

Police, wrote assistant city engineer Jeannine Briol, are noticing more snowmobiling and more violations within the city's borders, and they're getting more complaints. Many times, she said, drivers are going "well over the 25 mph speed limit on designated trails, and 15 mph limit off trail."

On Jan. 5, she wrote, city workers had to go out and help clear snow from a business after a snowmobile trail grooming machine threw enough snow and ice onto a driveway to block access for customers. She listed 12 spots where police and citizens have noticed snowmobilers on property they have no business crossing.

Moreover, she added, snowmobiles can compact snow and ice so badly on city sidewalks and trails -- illegal for them to use in the first place -- that it becomes a huge task to remove for people's safety and can take "heavy equipment" to accomplish.

The letter got the club's attention, Anderson said. "We sent a letter to Savage saying we want to meet on this, and they sent an e-mail saying 'Great!'"

Although clubs get the heat when complaints rise, he said, few snowmobilers actually belong to them and those who do are the good guys in the whole situation, volunteering to groom trails and work with government agencies to find solutions.

If trail grooming is causing others problems, he said, others are also causing problems for the trails. Government plows "are pushing snow onto our trails to make room for more snow. They have to do that; we fully understand that. But we're getting complaints from snowmobilers: 'Holy cats, aren't you guys grooming your trails?'"

For the most part, he said, snowmobilers within Savage are merely heading out into the countryside, using right-of-way on major roadways that will someday be eaten up by road expansion, leaving no more snowmobiling in town.

In the meantime, he said, "We have a great working relationship with the city. We have each others' numbers on our speed dials. A guy in a Crown Victoria" -- a squad car -- "can't always talk to a snowmobiler" who's racing along off-road.