The Perryville Board of Aldermen held a lengthy discussion on the safety of its residents when it comes to sidewalks/city trails and electric bikes at its regular meeting on June 20.
This issue was raised recently by Roger Prost and was discussed at the last Park Advisory Board meeting.
The City is already working on a project with its sidewalks that will help with safety of its residents.
“When this is done you can sit on a sidewalk at the Huber Road baseball fields, all the way to Highway 61, to Highway 51, to the soccer complex, to the Splash Pad, all the way to the Downtown Square without ever getting off a sidewalk,” Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck said. “With the popularity of e-bikes, it may be time to revisit that ordinance when it comes to allowing e-bikes on all those things.”
The Park Board agreed that e-bikes would be ok as long as there was a speed limit of 15 miles per hour posted.
“It’s impossible to really enforce it,” Alderman Clint Rice said. “I can get my pedal bike up to 30 mph going downhill near the soccer park.”
Multiple Aldermen expressed concern for elderly residents and children walking on the trail, as well as the many people who walk their dogs and how they can keep everyone safe when it comes to passing or meeting on the trails.
“The biggest concern is little kids and half of the walkers have dogs on leashes,” Alderman Tom Guth said. “Somebody coming through on a bike and not paying attention could be a problem. I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.”
The board was ok with e-bikes, but bikes with motorized bikes would still be prohibited.
“Things like the motorized scooters are not allowed on the sidewalks currently,” Parks and Recreation Director Jim Cadwell said.
Allowing the e-bikes on the trails and sidewalks would be in agreement with other surrounding communities.
The Board had differing opinions on several things including if allowing e-bikes for adults is ok, then allowing a motorized scooter for their child wouldn’t be a bad thing. The board agreed that allowing e-bikes with a speed limit of up to 15 mph.
An ordinance will be presented at the next meeting.
“We will have to go back and work on that language,” Buerck said. “They talked about the micromobility generally and maybe allowing that. We will work on something and let the board decide what they wanted ultimately.”
After that lengthy discussion, the board talked about changes to the bid process.
Decades ago, City Attorney David Beeson inserted language into bids that allowed an owner to withdraw bids within 24 hours for some irregularities. This language appears intermittently in draft documents when Baer Engineering develops the spec books. After visiting with City Attorney Pistorio, staff recommended removing this clause completely from all bids going forward to best protect and preserve the sanctity of the bid process.
Other news included the board amending an ordinance about gravel washing into city streets. First suggested as a point of concern by the Board of Aldermen, staff has worked to determine the appropriate City standard for a concrete apron on an aggregate (i.e. gravel) driveway is five feet beyond the City’s Right of Way. This will codify that change in city ordinances and will cover new driveways going forward. It is staff’s intention and belief that existing driveways will be grandfathered (although they can still be held responsible for aggregate that washes into the street from their driveway).
In his Administrative report, Buerck discussed the success of the after-hours gym access for the Perry Park Center and the need to order more key fabs.
The next meeting will be July 5.
