Fort Thomas City Council held a first reading of a proposal that would ban electric bikes and high-speed scooters from city sidewalks.
The council held the first reading at its April meeting. Low-speed scooters would still be permitted. The update also clarifies that, regardless of the type of scooter or bicycle, all must be walked on sidewalks within the city’s business district.
High-speed electric scooters are considered in the ordinance as anything that goes above 20 mph.
“If you step out of a building onto a sidewalk [in the business district], I will stick my head out and look now to see if someone is coming,” Fort Thomas City Council member Eric Strange said. “My point is, they [kids] assume that the only other alternative other than riding on the sidewalk is to go into the street. We’ve got ‘walk your ride’ out there. What we’re saying is for three blocks, get off of it, walk it on the sidewalk if you’re not comfortable in the street.”
Repercussions under the ordinance include a fine of up to $25 and impoundment for up to 60 days.
Fort Thomas City Councilmember Adam Blau said the police department is only looking to use the updated ordinance as teeth for enforcement if someone is causing a problem.
During the meeting, officials also discussed aligning bike helmet rules with motorcycle laws, which require anyone under 21 to wear a helmet.
Fort Thomas Police Chief Casey Kilgore said the department teaches e-scooter and bike safety to all fifth and sixth-graders in the district. They pass out reflective wrist bands, free helmets and bells to students as well.
Hank Hunter, a middle schooler, spoke at the meeting, discussing the advantages of kids riding bikes, including that they don’t add to traffic or the carbon footprint.
“If you look outside at drop-off hours at the middle school, you’ll probably see a lot of cars lined up waiting,” he said. “Introducing better bike lanes could help reduce those traffic jams and get kids to school on time.”
Fort Thomas City Councilmember Lauren McIntosh asked Hunter how he felt about getting off his bike to walk it in the business district.
“If there was a bike lane there or a feasible way to go around the sidewalks, then yes, but if there’s no bike lane, then it feels like it isn’t very easy to do because it takes a lot of time,” Hunter said.
He also said he agreed with requiring kids to wear helmets.
Fort Thomas resident and Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance, also known as CORA, member Michelle Knight asked the city to hold off on passing any new legislation until a group of specialists can come together and offer their input.
“Let’s take a moment, let’s pull in some subject matter experts and let’s do some benchmarking,” Knight said. “Let’s do it right so we don’t have to talk about it again.”
Fort Thomas City Administrator Matt Kremer said he would like to go through Knight’s ideas. The city is planning to meet with Knight and CORA executive director Jason Reser before the second reading.
“I think it’s really important that we do some kind of awareness campaign because certainly people are not going to be compliant with something they don’t even know exists,” Strange said.
The second reading and vote on the ordinance will take place at the council’s May meeting.
View the ordinance changes below.
