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Residents and volunteers press Select Board for rules after e‑bike damage at Memorial Park
Summary
After reports of e‑bikes and motorized scooters racing across Memorial Park and gouging courts and infields, volunteers and the police urged clearer signage, school outreach and a local ordinance to give officers enforcement authority; the board agreed to draft a memo to schools and consider an ordinance in the fall.
Residents, volunteer coaches and town officials told the Select Board that increasing numbers of electric bikes and motorized scooters are damaging courts and athletic fields and creating safety hazards at Memorial Park.
Volunteer field maintainer Mike Martell and other park users described machines riding over infields and spinning burnouts on basketball courts, leaving gouges that will increase resurfacing costs well beyond earlier estimates of about $15,000. Board members said those damages are forcing unpaid volunteers to spend time and money on repairs and risk turning out playing surfaces that could cause injuries.
The police chief and other officials urged a two‑track approach: clearer, conspicuous posting of park rules and an ordinance with a reasonable fine schedule so enforcement has legal teeth. "I want to support what the town wants, and that would be best through clearly established rules," the police chief said, recommending a posted code of conduct for Memorial Park that would make expectations and consequences explicit.
Board members also supported targeted education while any ordinance is drafted. They asked staff to circulate an advisory memo to parents by distributing it through Boon School (vice principal Tammy Allen was identified as the local contact) and suggested using social media and the town website to reach families before the end of the school year.
Practical mitigations were discussed: installing bike/scooter parking racks at the park entrances, adding larger, clearer signs stating that motorized vehicles are restricted from athletic fields and courts, temporary fencing around sensitive turf for game days, and posting low speed limits in high‑use park areas. The board discussed whether a designated off‑trail track or trail behind the pool could concentrate riding in a place that would not damage field surfaces, but members cautioned that building such facilities would require significant funds.
Board members noted limits under state law: New Hampshire’s electric‑bike framework generally treats lower‑power e‑bikes like bicycles for rights and duties on public ways, while higher‑power, non‑pedal machines may be classified differently. That statutory framework shapes what the town can and cannot do without specific local rules on town property.
The Select Board asked staff to draft: (1) a short advisory memo to circulate to schools and on town channels this week to alert parents to safety and property‑damage concerns, (2) improved signage and placement of additional bike racks/parking near park entrances, and (3) a draft ordinance for future consideration that would clarify restrictions on bicycles and motorized wheeled vehicles on athletic fields and courts, with input from the town insurer on liability language. The board did not adopt an ordinance at the meeting; members agreed to continue outreach and education over the summer and to revisit formal ordinance language later in the year.
What’s next: Staff will prepare a school memo and proposed signage language; the board will review a draft ordinance and liability review with Primex before advancing any enforcement policy.
