HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-27 Mike and Malissa Bernard
Charlene Way
From:Mike and Malissa Bernard <MMBERNARD1@msn.com>
Sent:Wednesday, January 27, 2021 12:55 PM
To:City Clerk
Subject:UTV/ATV/Golf Cart Ordinance, Draft
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Good afternoon,
Would you please add this to the Public Comment file for the ATV/UTV/Golf Cart draft ordinance packet?
Thank you! My very best to the Clerk’s Office! We’d give you higher than a ten on surveys if we could.
M. Bernard
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To Honorable Mayor Simison, City Council, Members of the Transportation Commission and Transportation Committees:
Perhaps the only portions of the draft for the ordinance re. ATV, UTV, or golf carts that should remain are as
follows: the definitions of the vehicles; not driving on sidewalks (except for snow removal or maintenance) or
pathways; being a licensed driver with insurance and anyone underage as passengers should have a helmet; and the
penalty of 25.00 plus court costs for driving on pathways and sidewalks when not performing maintenance duties.
The use of all vehicles and modes of conveyance should comply with local set speed limits and the specification of the
road…simple. UTVs on Eagle at 55 mph when they are not equipped for it? Definitely not. The rest of this ordinance is
onerous and unnecessary, and creates subdivisions and pockets of privilege.
Furthermore, many HOAs and maintenance companies utilize these vehicles for snow removal, landscaping, or checking
the subdivision in areas that would be crushed by full-sized vehicles. For example, we have a pond that requires sand
and maintenance, and UTVs are utilized for performing necessary maintenance tasks, for a full –size pickup would rut
the sod and crush the banks.
Others use these smaller vehicles to go play pickleball on Saturdays and pick up their neighbors on the way, or to go to
our pool utilizing neighborhood streets. They pull over for faster moving traffic as a common courtesy.
Moreover, ATVs are used by private citizens and companies for snow removal. We cannot rely upon ACHD to dig us out
in snowstorms. In fact, it was the private citizen neighbors that dug us out and helped in the herculean effort, and many
UTVs and ATVs and privately hired heavy equipment cleared snow during Snow-mageddon in our neighborhood so
neighbors could simply and safely get to the store for groceries.
It is striking how Segways, hoverboards, motorized scooters (gas and electric), E-bikes, powered longboards, three-
wheel motorcycles, tiny motorbikes, and the like aren’t typically subject to this much typeface, overbearance, and
regulation. Perhaps it is time to simplify and significantly pare down this archaic ordinance and not add street legal
UTVs to this ordinance. Furthermore, I know not of any reports of rampant and systemic Golf Cart Hooliganism.
My best to you all.
1
Sincerely,
Malissa Bernard
2