Northpinellas: Tempers rev over bikers' use of privately owned land

TARPON SPRINGS -- For neighbors, police and the company that owns it, a big piece of vacant land just south of the Anclote River increasingly is a source of irritation.

But to folks with dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, the property's sandy trails and stands of slash pines seem like heaven on earth. And with no fences, gates or prominent "No trespassing" signs, it couldn't look more inviting.

Since late last spring, the 74 acres that Ceridian Benefits Services owns east of U.S. 19 and north of Live Oak Parkway has drawn more and more cyclists from Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

"The word is out," said Tarpon Springs police Sgt. Tom Hill. "They're from all over, literally, all over."

Ceridian has posted "no trespassing" signs, but the company says the signs get knocked down.

Michael Levesque of Clearwater said he noticed some motorcycles on the property when he was driving on U.S. 19, so he and a buddy spent an hour on Christmas Eve tooling around on their dirt bikes. They left after a Tarpon Springs officer told them that the land was private property and gave them trespass warnings.

"I've never been there before and won't go back," said Levesque, 38. He said he never would have gone on the property if it had been posted. "I've got too much to lose to go up there and get thrown in jail for riding a motorcycle on private property."

That is a typical response, police say. Police have not made any arrests for trespassing because they don't run across repeat offenders.

"Our problem is that most of the people who are going out there are not about causing problems," Hill said. "They're family people -- literally, fathers with their kids, grandfathers with their grandkids. We really don't want to arrest these people."

A big piece of vacant land is tempting when there are few public spaces open to motorcycles, such as the state's 2,600-acre Croom Motorcycle Area in Hernando County.

Moreover, motorcycle and ATV riders aren't the only problems on the Ceridian property, police say. Someone recently dumped several truckloads of cut-up tree trunks, branches and yard waste on the property.

Neighbors simply want to stop the noise, which they say is getting worse.

"They just run around and around, all day and half the night," said retired General Motors manufacturing engineer Jim Zimmerman, 60, who lives in one of several mobile home parks near Ceridian's land. "It drives you crazy. You can't go out on your own patio."

Just how bad the problem is largely depends on who is talking. Zimmerman said that there might be 20 to 30 bikers on the property on weekday afternoons and "up to 100 on the weekends." Hill said police generally find three or four cyclists on a weekend.

Ceridian originally acquired the property as a future home but gave up those plans when it moved to St. Petersburg last year. The land is for sale, but the Ceridian executive in charge of trying to keep people out says it is too large to fence. The company has tried to post the property and block off some access roads with chains hung between posts, but those were cut down.

"We're trying our darndest working with the police and the neighbors to keep the people out," said Scott Kuebler, Ceridian's director of safety, security and facilities.

"What can you do with a big piece of property without posting somebody there? And that's unrealistic."

Kuebler said that he understands everyone's frustration and that he doesn't think first-time offenders should be hauled to jail. But he said trespassers could be given a notice to appear in court so they would have to explain to a judge their presence on the land.

"I think that would straighten a lot of that out," Kuebler said.

Hill said that police would like to see more efforts made to keep the trespassers off the property in the first place. Levesque, chastened by his experience on Christmas Eve, agreed. "It is private property, and whoever owns it has a nice piece of property," he said. "They need to post 'no trespassing' signs. . . . It would eliminate a lot of hassle for the cops."

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