So it's the first city trying to balance horses with pedestrians with bikes, and especially, e-bikes. City leaders are concerned about e-bikes speeding and the wear-and-tear on trails.
They’re preparing an ordinance that Councilmember Tom Smart said will put people on notice that their e-bike may not be allowed on singletrack in city limits. It would also establish speed limits for paved trails.
“When you have somebody who is speeding … and you have an incident where they're going around a corner, irresponsibly, and cause a horse wreck or something like that,” Smart said at a Sept. 25 council meeting, “you're criminally and civilly liable.”
There hasn’t been a serious crash yet. The city wants to keep it that way as it approaches completion of a trail network connecting Peoa to Oakley to the wider South Summit Trails Foundation system in the Uintas, called the Weber River Pathway.
The Oakley City Council revised its ordinance for the second time at its Sept. 25 meeting, but hasn’t officially adopted it. It’ll go through at least one more revision.
The latest version is somewhat narrower than the last, which notably classified any out-of-class e-bike as a motor vehicle.
The second version of the ordinance is closer to state law: if it’s not a class 1, 2 or 3 e-bike, it’s “not an e-bike.”
Whether they are motor vehicles may depend on one's defintion of "electric motorcyles." These out-of-class e-bikes still wouldn’t have VINs registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Here's how the latest ordinance defines motor vehicles: “ANY motorized bike or wheeled vehicle, including electric or gas motorcycles, single-wheeled devices, scooters, or the like, that is NOT an e-bike.”
The latest version of the ordinance now also makes exceptions for older riders and those with mobility disabilities, similar to exceptions in Park City and the Snyderville Basin.
Also similar to recent restrictions adopted on the west side, Oakley is planning speed limits for both singletrack and paved trails, 10 mph and 15 mph respectively.
The ordinance will come back for a third reading at a future council meeting. It cannot be adopted then until after a public hearing.
