La PORTE — The La Porte Park Board is requesting the public’s opinion regarding future regulations for the city’s multi-use trails.
With dedicated funding for their construction, the city, said La Porte Parks Supt. Mark Schreiber, has three multi-use trails – Chessie, Clear Lake and Stone Lake – which are open to the likes of pedestrians, bicyclists and scooterists equally; while Kesling, Allesee and Fox Parks’ trails, on the other hand, are solely intended for walking purposes.
And because Schreiber has recently received comments from the community regarding the need to impose new regulations on the multi-use trails, he requested that the Park Board, at their June 18 meeting, conduct their own research on what rules and regulations should be considered to create more community-friendly trails by their July 16 meeting.
For starters, Schreiber suggested that a 15 mile per hour [mph] speed limit be imposed on the multi-purpose trails.
“... realistically, most people who ride a bike can ride it [in excess of] 15 mph, I mean 15 mph is the rate at which most people run,” Schreiber said.
“Setting that limit there, I think, it’s probably the fairest thing to do,” he added.
For bike riders to follow the trails’ speed limit, Schreiber said they can install speedometers, or they can get a physical feel for what 15 mph feels like since it’s a similar pace to an average person’s sprint.
Additionally, the request was made that the board research and discuss what will and will not be allowed on the trails; for example, he recommended that golf carts be banned from the multi-purpose trails.
“Golf carts are huge right now. They’re not supposed to be on the trails. We’ve got to shag a few of them off,” he said.
As for other motorized equipment, specifically electric bikes [E-bikes], Schreiber requested that the board “drill down a little bit more” on rules surrounding Class 1 and Class 2 E-bikes’ usage on La Porte’s trails.
Furthermore, while the state, Schreiber said, doesn’t allow for Class 3 E-bikes on their trails, board member Nicole Messacar said La Porte can make their own decision regarding if that class of E-bikes will be permitted, and she recommended the park system put up “detailed signage” to help educate the public on the different E-bike classes.
And as tempting as it may be to completely exclude the usage of E-bikes on the city’s multi-purpose trails, Schreiber said that exclusion will end up affecting a large portion of population, as E-bikes’ popularity continues to grow.
“[E-bikes are] just going to get more prevalent, so if you start saying no E-bikes, there’s going to come a point where you’re almost going to be cutting off a large part of the population, because largely the older population is now buying more and more E-bikes,” he said.
“I understand the apprehension on E-bikes, because you do have some that will whiz by, but I think it really comes down a lot to education and letting people know, ‘hey, you got to know the rules,’ because there are bikers out there, cyclists out there, who are very good about [following rules],” he added.
Recognizing that there will also be rule breakers, Schreiber recommended that the board not only weigh their options before making any drastic decisions regarding E-bikes on the multi-purpose trails but also listen to public feedback on their thoughts about the trails.
And even though the park system is in the “middle of our season,” the trails, Schreiber said, are used year-round, so any impending regulation changes are not needed immediately.
“... I think it would be important for the board to first and foremost set some regulations, make a strong recommendation to City Council on setting a speed limit, and maybe a limit on what is allowed on [the trails] and then go about educating the public,” he said.
As of right now, suggestions were made to place speed limit signs throughout the trails, as well as larger, more detailed signs regarding the trails’ regulations and etiquette on the nearby kiosks.
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