Lewis County Fiscal Court adopts ordinance allowing street-legal special-purpose vehicles on county highways

The Lewis County Fiscal Court voted to adopt Ordinance 25-03, allowing street-legal special-purpose vehicles to operate on county-maintained highways outside the city of Vanceburg, effective July 1, 2025.

The ordinance implements provisions from Kentucky Acts 2025, chapter 89, and KRS 189.515, and sets registration, inspection and insurance requirements for what it defines as “street legal special purpose vehicles.” Those requirements include a valid operator's license, registration, proof of insurance in the same form and amounts required for motorcycles, and an inspection by a certified inspector at the Lewis County Sheriff's Office. The ordinance also adopts vehicle-equipment requirements such as headlamps, brake lamps, turn signals, mirrors, a windshield (unless the operator wears eye protection), a speedometer, roll bar or roll cage, and seat belts for multi-passenger vehicles.

The measure lists specific route and use limits. Street-legal special-purpose vehicles are allowed on all highways within Lewis County’s jurisdictional limits except streets inside the city of Vanceburg; they are barred from operating in school zones during pickup or drop-off hours and from highways owned or operated by Lewis County Schools (the ordinance names Garrison Elementary, Central Elementary, Lawyer Elementary, Tollsboro Elementary, Lewis County Middle School and Lewis County High School). The ordinance also excludes controlled-access systems, interstates or parkways, and any highway or portion where the U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibits such vehicles. The ordinance states that these vehicles may not travel a distance greater than 20 miles on a highway that displays centerline pavement markings.

During discussion, one Fiscal Court member raised concerns about aftermarket lighting often mounted on utility side-by-side vehicles and “the big lighted whips and the different things that they put on,” noting color and visibility issues and saying, “lights on vehicles has always been very well regulated.” The member observed that the ordinance’s Section 1(8), which requires operators to comply with all applicable traffic regulations, and the specified signal color requirements in other subsections address some of that concern.

The ordinance text incorporated by reference the definitions set forth in the underlying state statute and said those definitions may be amended in the future by the Kentucky General Assembly. It excludes vehicles that travel at 25 miles per hour or less from the definition of a street-legal special-purpose vehicle and specifies a tires requirement recorded in the ordinance text.

The Fiscal Court’s adoption followed a motion to approve Ordinance 25-03 and a second. The roll call recorded yes votes from Joey McCann, Woody Underwood, Mark Horsley, Johnny Osborne and Judge Sparks; the record indicates Mark Carlisle was polled as well. The ordinance becomes effective July 1, 2025, upon publication.

Court members did not give further direction to staff during the discussion and did not attach conditions beyond the ordinance text itself.