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EUGENE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Public Hearing: An Ordinance Concerning Motorized Transportation Devices And Motor Assisted Scooter Sales; Amending Sections 4.990, 5.010, And 5.990 Of The Eugene Code, 1971; And Adding New Sections 4.979 And 5.160 To That Code Meeting Date: February 14, 2005 Agenda Item Number: 3 Department: Eugene Police Staff Contact: Sergeant Derel Schulz www. cl. eugene, or. us Contact Telephone Number: 682-5157 ISSUE STATEMENT This is a public hearing to receive comments regarding an ordinance banning motorized transportation devices from all City-owned off-street paths, prohibiting the use of such devices in a manner that disturbs the peace and requiring Eugene merchants to make certain disclosures related to the sale of motor-assisted scooters. BACKGROUND The City Council held an initial work session on June 14, 2004, to address growing public concerns regarding conflicts between motor-assisted scooters and bicyclists, automobiles, pedestrians and neighborhood residents. Complaints from the public centered around noise, pollution from two-stroke combustion engines and conflicts between users on the bicycle and pedestrian paths. The City Council directed the City Manager to develop a number of options for regulation of motor-assisted scooters that would address the salient issues of noise, on-street and bicycle and pedestrian path use. A directed outreach process was initiated to gather public opinion regarding the use of motor-assisted scooters. A workshop was held on August 12, 2004, to solicit community comments regarding the use of motor-assisted scooters on bicycle and pedestrian paths; an intercept survey of path users was utilized; and numerous contacts via email, mail, phone, etc. provided additional comments that were used to develop options for regulation that were then presented to City Council in the second work session. The August 12 community workshop was attended by approximately 72 people. Seventy-nine percent of the people at the workshop were bicycle and pedestrian users of the paths. The opinions of these individuals ranged from 32 people being completely opposed to any use of motorized transportation devices on the paths to 12 who believed that with some constraints, electric motor- assisted scooters would be tolerable; others were interested in some compromise of limited use. The second City Council work session was held on September 15, 2004. The council accepted the recommendation from the City Manager to develop an ordinance combining the three options that were presented by staff and to establish a definition for a "motorized transportation device." The proposed ordinance defines "motorized transportation device" as any vehicle that is not propelled exclusively by human power, including but not limited to an electric-assisted bicycle (when not being L:\CMO\2005 Council Agendas\M050214\S0502143.doc