Commission adds Chestnut Hills Estates to ATV ordinance after resident appeals

Dorothy Leanne Smith, a Chestnut Hills Estates resident, urged the Berkeley County Commission to add her neighborhood to the county ATV ordinance, saying recent dirt-bike and all-terrain vehicle activity has involved residents and outsiders using a straightaway for drag racing. Smith said, "I am pleading that you guys approve that because we have some issues going on in that neighborhood." She told commissioners a family in the neighborhood has been riding and inviting others to race through the area. The request to add Chestnut Hills Estates to the county ATV ordinance was placed on the commission's consent agenda and approved without recorded roll-call votes. A commissioner noted the ordinance "is included and it is now effective once we sign the documents for your ordinance." The commission verbally approved the consent agenda with the traditional "ayes." The change gives law-enforcement officers local authority to enforce the ordinance provisions in Chestnut Hills Estates; per remarks during the meeting it will allow the sheriff's office to issue tickets where vehicles violate highway or local ordinances. Why this matters: adding a neighborhood to an ATV ordinance changes enforcement options available to the sheriff and can affect residents' use of streets, driveways and common areas. Residents who asked the commission to act said they lack an HOA and therefore were seeking county-level tools to address safety and nuisance concerns. Details and next steps: the ordinance addition was handled on the consent agenda and is effective after signature on county documents, per the commission's statement. The sheriff's office and the county attorney will be able to apply the ordinance in Chestnut Hills Estates once the paperwork is filed and executed. No separate public hearing or roll-call vote was recorded in the meeting transcript; the approval occurred as part of the consent agenda process.