Rocky Hill urges residents to stop e-bike use on courts amid damage repairs

Rocky Hill’s parks face costly damages from e-bike misuse on courts and turf. Officials are urging riders to adhere to designated areas within parks.

ROCKY HILL, Conn. — The town of Rocky Hill is calling for people to stop using e-bikes or e-scooters on their courts and playgrounds.

The town’s parks and recreation department says improper use of these areas has caused a lot of damage, and the repairs can be pricey.

“They just let them ride around; it’s crazy,” said Cynthia Morse, of Rocky Hill.

She comes to Elm Ridge Park in Rocky Hill every day and says she often sees parents allowing their children to ride e-bikes on the pickle ball court.

“The parents will just stand there and then say, ‘Oh, come on, you’ve got to get out of here’. They go around and around anyway. They don’t care,” said Morse.

Craig Bowman, the director of Parks and Recreation for the town, says they’ve recently had to fix several turfs and courts.

“We’ve seen rips in our artificial turf fields,” said Bowman.

Similar damage has happened on the Rocky Hill High School turf, courts and track.

Bowman says they’ve seen e-bike or e-scooter damage to recreation areas almost daily. He says the repairs can be pricey.

“A thousand dollars here, a thousand dollars there, a couple thousand there. That’s stuff adds up, and we’d like to avoid that,” explained Bowman.

Bowman encourages people to use e-bikes or e-scooters in other permitted areas of the parks.

“We want people to get outside and enjoy the parks but just know the areas that you can go in,” said Bowman.

To avoid improper use of the courts and fields, Morse is hoping to see some security upgrades to the gates.

“If it were me, I would have this thing padlocked, so nobody gets in here. When people wants to play there has to be a way to get them open,” said Morse.

Bowman said the town is looking to possibly add gate baffles to the courts to stop people from bringing e-bikes or e-scooters there.

Alyshia Hercules is a Multi-Skilled Journalist for FOX61 News. She can be reached at AHercules@FOX61.com. Follow her on Facebook or X.

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