The Tea Party wackos are going to go nuts over this one...

Lewiston off-road park shut down, told to get business permits

LEWISTON — Property owner Don Arel said he was a little surprised this weekend when he got a letter from the city telling him to shut down.

"I don't really know what shut down means," Arel said. "I don't have front doors to close or employees to send home."

What he has is All Wheels Off Road Park — 428 muddy acres in the northern part of the city and a lot of like-minded friends with ATVs and four-wheel drives.

The City of Lewiston sent Arel and his wife a letter instructing them to discontinue the use of their land immediately or face city fines.

Gil Arsenault, Lewiston's director of planning and code enforcement, said Arel's property has been acting as an un-permitted business for years.

He allows four-wheel and a ATV driving on the site, provides a shooting range and allows camping. In exchange, he asks for a $10 donation for each user.

He tried to turn park into a business years ago when he first bought the land, going so far as to create a limited liability corporation.

He learned he'd need planning board permission, wetland studies and other expensive engineering reports to do that, so he let the LLC lapse.

"I just kept doing it as a hobby," he said. "We've been doing it for years as a hobby before, so we decided to keep doing that."

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