Riverside reconsidering ATV, golf cart rules

The city of Riverside is considering changes to its code of ordinances regarding the use of golf carts and off-road vehicles on city streets.

City Administrator Christine Yancey said she received complaints about ATV usage in town and brought the broader question of various vehicle types to the council for suggestions.

“I had always heard that golf carts were allowed on city streets, but yet I could not find anything in our code that allowed them,” Yancey said. “The only thing that was allowed was all-terrain vehicles on the highway and some other designated streets, you can use them to get to a certain designated point, at the convenience store.”

Yancey said these types of road rules were controversial in many communities.

“I agree that it is a safety issue, you just have to decide how strict you want it to be,” she said. “It must be a topic that’s kind of a hot-button topic everywhere, because ClerkNet was just all lit up with it as far as who had ordinances against them, who allowed them, what the procedures were.”

Yancey noted that a city ordinance would trump county rules. While Washington County licenses ATVs, it lacks jurisdiction on their uses within city limits.

Riverside resident Scott Butterbaugh said city policy should make careful distinctions between vehicle types.

“The difference between a UTV and an ATV is, UTVs, they do have seat belts, they do have roll cages, and they’re pretty well made so if you’re in an accident, you’re protected,” he said. “UTVs, in Washington County, you can register them and run them on secondary roads … I would like to see UTVs be allowed.”

Councilperson Edgar McGuire said he was worried about unsafe golf cart uses on city streets, and pitched seat belt and license plate requirements as possible options for the city.

“As I went into Casey’s, a golf cart pulls up like a regular vehicle, no seat belts, and there’s two little kids hanging off the back,” McGuire said. “If anything were to go wrong, those kids would probably be hurt … I looked at that and thought, ‘That is not a good idea.’”

Another point of contention is the degree to which code changes would effect city vehicles. While the city could declare itself exempt, Mayor Allen Schneider suggested moderation with such an approach.

“If there are city purposes we need to build into the code, that’s fine,” he said. “But if we get too restrictive with it and then we’re just using those vehicles throughout town however we want, it doesn’t look good.”

Yancey said she would look through options to address residents’ complaints and council members’ concerns, planning to present possible changes at the council’s next meeting.

“I want to make it enforceable,” she said. “I don’t want to just put another law on the books that we can’t enforce. I just want to make it so it’s safer.”