Residents urge Fairport to act on e‑bike safety, request speed bump on Linton Place

Residents used the citizens forum to press the board on two safety issues: traffic calming on a recently reconstructed Linton Place and growing safety concerns from increasingly powerful, quiet e‑bikes on village sidewalks and the canal path.

Nancy Zembrot of Linton Place asked the board to add a speed bump while her street is being repaved, saying drivers routinely “gun it” to avoid congested intersections. “What would it take to get a speed bump on that street? … I’ve lived there 30 years … it’s just an accident waiting to happen,” Zembrot said.

Zembrot also described multiple encounters with e‑bike riders on the canal and village streets who rode at high speeds, used profanity toward pedestrians and behaved in ways she called reckless. When asked what the village is doing about e‑bikes, the board said municipal and county authorities are reviewing codes and enforcement options, and the mayor urged residents to report incidents to police to build enforcement cases.

Another resident, Michael Santarello, recommended targeted enforcement to set an example: “You only need to catch one or two kids, and it’ll pass within the youth community that you can’t do whatever it is that you’re doing,” he said.

Board members acknowledged enforcement is difficult because e‑bikes can reach high speeds while producing little noise, and noted that neighboring municipalities have adopted or adjusted codes (for example, some places restrict bikes on sidewalks). The board said it is coordinating across departments and with other local governments to explore options but offered no immediate regulatory change at the meeting.

The citizens forum closed at 6:17 p.m.