Small, versatile vehicles like four-wheelers and side-by-sides are legal again on Unalaska’s public roads, after the Unalaska City Council overturned a mayoral veto keeping the all-purpose vehicles, or APVs, off the streets.
At a Jan. 28 meeting, the council voted 5-1 to reverse the mayor’s veto of their earlier decision to end a yearslong local ban of APVs on public roads.
In a Jan. 16 statement explaining his veto, Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. cited safety and enforcement concerns as reasons to keep the ban in place. He stated that he wanted the public to weigh in on the issue with a referendum vote. The council then had three weeks to respond to the veto.
Council member Shari Coleman voted in mid-January against allowing APVs on public roads. But she later voted to overturn Tutiakoff’s veto — a decision she said came down to procedure.
Coleman said that while she also preferred to see the issue decided by a public vote, the council itself is “representative of the community as a body.”
“I feel like [the] process was well served, with plenty of participation and chance for community to put their input in,” she added.
Tutiakoff said he felt he had done his duty to protect the community with the veto.
A key opponent of the move to overturn the ban was the Ounalashka Corp., the regional Alaska Native corporation and a prominent landowner in Unalaska. Tutiakoff serves as chairman for the group’s board of directors.
Over the past few months, OC representatives have expressed concern that allowing APVs on public roads could encourage drivers to take those vehicles off-road, specifically on private, corporation-owned lands.
Council members decided to raise the fine for off-roading during a meeting late last year in response to OC’s comments. Now, anyone found unlawfully using an APV on private lands, including OC’s, is subject to a $1,000 municipal fine.
But the corporation’s CEO Natalie Cale said during the Jan. 28 meeting that there is “no question” APVs would be driven off-road. She asked the council to consider how they would directly assist property owners when enforcement issues arise.
City attorney Charles Cacciola confirmed that the current ordinance allowing APVs on public roads will remain in place unless it is overturned by a ballot measure, which wouldn’t happen until the fall.
Unalaska Police Chief Kim Hankins told KUCB two APVs were registered when the ban was initially overturned, before the veto went into effect. Since the veto was lifted, he said there have been no reports of issues involving APVs.
The city council had been in talks to lift a local ban on APVs since the fall, although it wasn’t the first time they’d approached the topic. Conversations about changing municipal code to allow APVs on public roads came up in previous years’ council discussions, but failed to change local law. Alaska state law has allowed APVs on public roads since 2022, with exceptions possible at the local level.
APV operators on public roads are subject to regulations like all other drivers. They need a driver’s license, registration, license plate and signal lights, among other standard requirements.
