SEQUIM — Burnt Hill has long been a hot spot for dirt bikers like Suzy Traband.
She likes to get together with her girlfriends for a day on the trails — she’s been riding her off-road motorcycle on the hill south of Sequim for a couple of decades.
So Traband, 52, and other off-road vehicle enthusiasts were dismayed when they heard of the Burnt Hill Home Owners Association’s lawsuit, filed Jan. 30 in Clallam County Superior Court, against the state Department of Natural Resources.
The Home Owners Association, a group of 20 residents, is seeking an injunction to stop Natural Resources’ Burnt Hill Management Plan, which would allow off-road vehicle use on designated trails in the 5,100 acres of state land south of U.S. Highway 101 and build a 25-space parking lot on the hill.
The plan could turn Burnt Hill into a “destination” for off-road vehicles users, said Robert Groff, one of the 20 homeowners who filed the suit.
Groff said he worries that if vehicle use on Burnt Hill increases, so will noise, dumping and vandalism.
Traband, who co-owns Port Angeles Power Equipment, a motorbike dealer, has a few things to say about that.
First, off-road vehicles enthusiasts have been smeared with a broad brush.
“I’m getting really tired of people stereotyping us,” Traband said.