Minutes - Council Work Session - 04/03/2012

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Mayor Ramsey suggested if we don't do this, people will break the law by riding four- wheeler and that's wrong. Councilmember Elvig stated he understands the purity of this thought but he has seen some of what they do — he did not want to see the Chief have to go after this. Mayor Ramsey suggested comparing it to motorcycles. Councilmember Elvig stated that he always thought golf carts on paths would be fun but he is concerned about roller bladers. Councilmember McGlone stated he is conflicted. We have people who make investments in these vehicles and are required to get insurance, etc. and they cannot be driven on the road. He cautioned Council needs to be careful to not blanket everyone. He did not feel every teen will be out there just because we allow it. Councilmember Strommen stated she owns an ATV and it's at her cabin and she can drive it on the trails but she would not ride it here because she would not feel safe. She did not feel that not allowing this is an infringement on her freedom. Mayor Ramsey stated that we are multi -modal and we cannot ride four - wheelers in our City. Councilmember McGlone stated that maybe there is an environmental aspect to this — talking about golf carts. Councilmember Strommen stated she just does not feel this is safe and was very concerned about the seriousness of a tragedy of an ATV and truck accident. Mayor Ramsey stated he feels we need to take the bikes off then too as that would be a pretty serious accident as well. Councilmember McGlone stated that we had the Ramsey3 process and we were shown scads of things. How much more driving is done in the City on cul -de -sacs and pockets, etc. We have a lot more car traffic. He would like to see more people drive four - wheelers. Councilmember Tossey asked if there was more that needed to be done with this. Chief Way stated he did not put a lot of time into this yet because he wanted to know where the Councilmember are at with regard to this. The City of Red Wing allows it but their ordinance calls out where they can and cannot ride — for example — they cannot ride them in the downtown area. He stated he is looking for where we want to be. We do not have control on County Roads and County ditches so we cannot allow it there. But if you want to look at something in the City — he is looking for a consensus. He added that Faribault has no riding in their downtown business district. He pointed out that ATV manufacturers suggest you do not ride ATV's on roads. There is no current requirement to have insurance so we would have to talk about that. City Council Work Session / April 3, 2012 Page 7 of 10