Saline City Council unanimously passed the first reading of its proposed Ordinance 877, which would regulate the usage of electric bikes, skateboards and mobility devices in the downtown area.
“Councilmember Rice had some downtown businesses that had brought concern to her about people stepping out of a store and having some of these devices kind of whiz by,” Acting City Manager Elle Cole said. “And the notion kind of came to us that we didn’t have an updated policy to address these multi mobile devices that are now traversing our town.”
The current language of the ordinance prohibits use of electronic mobility devices, including electric bikes and electric skateboards, from being used in the area designated in yellow in the map below. This will not apply to ADA-compliant devices.
“What this does is just say, hey, in town, we don’t ride the bike,” Cole said. “We don’t ride these electronic devices, we walk them through town. It’s much safer for them to be walking their devices through this area, as doors can open and a catastrophe can happen very quickly.”…