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Committee proposes targeted changes to e‑bike and scooter rules, to send draft to Parks and Village Board
Summary
A Village committee recommended adjustments to a draft ordinance covering electric bicycles and scooters — including aligning age limits with state law and narrowing sidewalk prohibitions — and agreed to forward the revised draft to Parks and the Village Board for May consideration.
The committee for the Village of Cross Plains reviewed proposed amendments to the village ordinance that would add electric bicycles and scooters to existing bicycle rules and impose safety and operational limits.
Staff member (S3) told the committee the draft is modeled on examples from other communities and reviewed by the village attorney. S3 recommended following state law for age limits on high‑speed devices, saying, "The state statute is 18, and we're doing it less," and urged the ordinance to mirror the state threshold for class 3 devices. Committee members debated whether to treat regular bicycles the same as electric devices on sidewalks; several said that blanket prohibitions on all bicycles would be too broad.
On helmets, S3 noted the draft included a clause requiring people under 18 to wear a helmet and reflective vest, and several members questioned enforceability for younger cyclists, suggesting helmet requirements be targeted to higher‑speed electric devices instead of all bicycles.
The committee discussed operational rules proposed in the draft — riding with traffic, single‑file group operation, use of lights at night, prohibition on clinging to vehicles, and bans on races or acrobatic riding — and agreed signage could be used to restrict devices in recreation areas and trails.
Chair (S2) moved to amend the draft to remove regular bicycles from the sidewalk prohibition in section A1, to align class‑3 age prohibitions with state law, and to forward the revised language to the Parks committee for review. S3 said she would deliver the revised draft to staff for inclusion on the Village Board agenda. "I'll get it to Carly, and it will be considered in May," S3 said.
Next steps: the committee recommended the Parks committee review the amended draft and asked staff to have the version ready for the Village Board packet by May 11. No formal board vote on the ordinance was recorded at this meeting; the action taken was a committee referral and recommendation to the Village Board and Parks committee.
