Born to be wild, or playing it safe? For an Oliver Paipoonge motorcycle riding school, it’s the latter.
The rural property used by the Motorcycle Safety Training Organization Northwestern Ontario agency will be in full compliance from a municipal perspective when operations hit the pavement for the 2026 riding season.
Though the riding-safety school has operated at a Vibert Road location for the past four years, the former Buchanan mill property it utilizes was never zoned for motorcycle instruction.
That changed on Tuesday, when Oliver Paipoonge council approved a zoning amendment proposal brought forward by the property owner — a numbered company headed by Gino Garritano, according to a municipal report.
“The municipality is pleased that the owner of 94 Vibert Rd. (sought) proper zoning,” Oliver Paipoonge chief administrator Wayne Hanchard said this week.
The amendment is good for five years, when it will come up for review.
When the amendment application was brought forward, some raised concerns that it would set the stage for motorcycle racing.
Hanchard said that’s not the case.
“There is no racing mentioned in the application,” he added, adding “we have never received any complaints about the training school or the (organization’s) May Day event.”
Motorcycle Safety Training Organization president and riding instructor Greg Stein said the training school has been acknowledged as one of the best in Canada.
The idea to create a local rider-training centre took hold in 2015, when Thunder Bay’s Confederation College stopped offering motorcycle courses.
Stein, a former chief rider instructor at the college, said when the college program was no longer available, riders had to travel as far as Toronto area for similar training.
“We’re the only game in Northwestern Ontario, from the Sault to the Manitoba border,” Stein commented this week.
This year’s version of the May Day event, which promotes motorcycle riding as a pastime, is set for May 30 at the Vibert Road location, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
