The Active Transportation Board and the Parks Board both recommended approval today. It will head to the city council for an informational and then 1st and 2nd readings. While it will probably pass before the end of February, it won’t take into affect until June 1st (which I assume is for updated signage on the trails.)
During the Parks board meeting I spoke in favor due to the health and wellness of older people. The one dissenter at the meeting brought up the fiasco going on in Pierre right now with E bikes on Mickelson trail. I told the board, in which many giggled, that if the government in Sioux Falls does the exact opposite of Pierre we will be in good shape. They have turned this e-bike ordinance into a political football like mask wearing and Covid vaccines.
I said the biggest danger is speed, and if we can control speed we can control this.
The SFPD presented a study they did on bike speeds on the trail and determined that the average bike speed is 11 MPH on the trail (15 MPH is the legal limit) and out of 150 users only 8 were going over the speed limit and the highest speed recorded was 23 MPH. No surprises there.
The Administration, The Parks Department and the SFPD all support the change.