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Commission opens discussion on limited city golf‑cart rules; staff to return with neighborhood‑by‑neighborhood options
Summary
Following passage of Senate Bill 63 at the state level, the commission requested more analysis before allowing street‑legal golf carts or special‑purpose vehicles; staff and police recommended limiting any pilot to 25 mph streets or neighborhood‑designated streets and excluding greenway trails; staff will return with maps and petition process.
Paducah commissioners on Aug. 12 discussed whether to permit street‑legal golf carts or “special purpose vehicles” within city limits after state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 63 allowing local governments to opt in.
City staff explained two separate state regimes: existing KRS provisions that let cities authorize street‑legal golf carts (which must meet headlamp, turn‑signal, mirror and slow‑moving‑vehicle requirements) and the new SB 63 section that allows special‑purpose vehicles (ATVs, UTVs, mini‑trucks) under stricter inspection, registration and title requirements. Staff said cities may be more restrictive than state law and that any allowance must be enacted by local ordinance.
Chief Brian Laird told the commission Paducah records do not include golf‑cart collision data, and that city traffic collisions average roughly 1,700–1,800 per year with hundreds of injuries; the department’s leading contributing factor in collisions is driver inattention. Laird said enforcement and underage driving have been concerns in other cities that permissively allow carts. Staff recommended excluding Greenway trails and multi‑use paths from any allowance.
Commissioners discussed options: allow carts only on streets 25 mph or lower, permit by neighborhood with a petition process (Union, Ky., was cited as an example requiring a 50 percent property‑owner petition), or allow broader use on all roads at or under 35 mph as some cities do. Several commissioners favored a neighborhood‑based approach and asked staff to return with maps showing 25‑mph corridors, cross‑street limits and draft ordinance language. The commission explicitly declined to pursue special‑purpose vehicle rules at this time and asked staff to continue developing a golf‑cart proposal limited to golf carts and neighborhood designations.
Staff will return with maps, draft permit language and an implementation plan that could include an application/petition process, inspection and sticker/permit requirements, and sunrise‑to‑sunset operational limits.
