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West Miami approves golf-cart ordinance with local registration and nuisance rules
Summary
The City Commission approved a second-reading ordinance allowing street-legal golf carts to operate inside West Miami with a city decal, local registration option and nuisance restrictions; state-registered carts were exempted by amendment.
The City Commission of the City of West Miami on April 2 approved a second-reading ordinance allowing the operation of street-legal golf carts on city streets with a municipal registration option and restrictions aimed at safety and neighborhood noise.
Under the ordinance, residents may register golf carts with the city and receive a yearly decal indicating local permission to operate within West Miami; drivers must hold an approved driver’s license and all vehicles must meet street-legal equipment requirements such as headlights, taillights, turn signals and mirrors. Commissioners added an amendment clarifying that carts already registered with the state and properly plated are exempt from the local decal requirement.
Why it matters: the ordinance seeks to formalize a practice already present in West Miami — residents and visitors using low-speed vehicles for short trips — while giving police and code enforcement a way to identify locally authorized carts and to enforce local nuisance rules that commissioners said should prevent loud stereos, train horns and other disturbances.
City Manager (name not stated at the meeting) briefed the commission that the measure is modeled on similar ordinances in nearby municipalities and would encourage a nominal annual fee and a city-issued decal rather than requiring DMV registration for operators who only intend to use carts inside West Miami. Chief Delgado (Chief of Police) told the commission that the state already prescribes requirements for street-legal golf carts, and that the city’s ordinance would add local registration and enforcement mechanisms but must not conflict with state law.
Commission debate focused on practical enforcement and quality-of-life limits. Vice Mayor Natalie Milian Orvis asked that the ordinance specifically require compliance with the city’s nuisance and noise rules so that carts cannot be used to blare loud music through neighborhoods; commissioners agreed to add that language. Commissioners also confirmed that state-registered, plated carts would not be forced to obtain a city decal.
The ordinance passed unanimously on second reading, 5-0. The commission directed staff to prepare the form and fee schedule and to coordinate with police and code enforcement on implementation and signage.
A note on scope: the ordinance limits cart operation to city streets and excludes major arterials (examples discussed during the meeting included Coral Way and other high-speed roads); the law will specify prohibited roads and operational rules when codified.
