Rossmoor officials will discuss e-bike regulation on Feb. 10.
The Rossmoor Community Services District Board of Directors is poised to finally limit action and access to electric bikes within the confines of the district, yet only after careful consideration of the language and input from some within the cycling community who want any limitations to be controlled.
The new ordinances have been discussed for months, but according to General Manager Sharon Landers, will be on the docket for the board’s Feb. 10 meeting.
At the December meeting, Director Tony DeMarco and other directors questioned Landers and District Attorney Tarquin Preziosi at their last meeting about the specific language that will be included in the law.
Preziosi said he has ensured that the language in the ordinance clarifies motorized “I’ve made the changes that were suggested by the board members,” he told the board.
Many in the community, including the directors, have discussed their own affinity with regular bicycles, and while they want to be pro-active, they want to ensure any ordinance protects the rights of bike owners.
Resident Jody Roubanis, a bike enthusiast, reflected those concerns.
“I think that our e-bikers should have a real place to do their e-bikes and that do it appropriately,” she said, adding that “I hope that when we’re looking at the challenge of having our e-bikers in our neighborhood, that we’re not just saying no, you can’t use our roads, because they’re going to be doing it somewhere.”
Like nearby communities like Los Alamitos and others across Orange County that are struggling to find a way to regulate electric bicycles, local governments are trying to strike a balance of allowing the powerful new electric bikes while keeping the public safe.
And, like other communities, Rossmoor has been experiencing problems.
According to Landers, she has reached out to other communities struggling to regulate e-bikes, many of them like Oceanside, California, whose city council recently passed an ordinance authorizing police to confiscate electric bikes from owners who fit that community’s definition of unsafe operations.
Others, like the city of Irvine, have introduced similar ordiances. Irvine introduced a local ordinance last week that could hold parents accountable for unsafe e-bike usage and provide for steep fines, if enacted.
Like the Rossmoor ordinance, the local legislation requires a first reading and will not be adopted until the 2nd reading of the ordinance.
Rossmoor’s Board has recently discussed serious ecological damage caused by e-bikers to its prized parks, and has heard of dangerous pedestrian situations posed by roving bands of e-bikers.
Because of state laws in place that give e-bikers certain rights, Rossmoor Directors have been told that they will have the power to outlaw use of the electric bikes only within the purview of its parks, so the carefully crafted ordinance will be voted on Feb. 10.
“We’re not controlling the city or the county roads,” said Landers. “This is only limited to our property, where kids are speeding on sidewalks, cutting across our grass, damaging our grass and causing issues with potential collisions with people that are using the walkways in our parks.”
Landers said the proposed ordinance is on the RCSD’s website and will be adopted if the board approves it after its second reading this month.
