City Council members on Tuesday, March 3, again discussed the use of E-bikes on Sanibel. Currently, only Class 1 bikes are allowed on the shared-use path, and the Council on Tuesday wanted to discuss Class 2 and Class 3 E-bikes.
“We call this a shared-use path. If we bring on the onslaught of E-bikes, it will be a bike lane,” Council member John Henshaw said to start the discussion. He then added, “If we open it up to other classes, we’re creating an attraction, and we don’t want more attractions.” Henshaw thinks many people will come over the causeway just to ride their E-bikes on the shared-use path.
“We’re putting our residents in danger,” Henshaw continued. “I’m very adamant about being against expanding [the E-bike classes]. Somehow, we have to control that. Those riding Class 2 and 3 bikes aren’t spending money on our island; they’re passing through. It’s going to be a disastrous event with many unintended consequences if we don’t deal with this today.”…