The Fort Myers Beach Town Council is one vote away from changing its ordinance to allow ebikes on town sidewalks. The current ordinance prohibits any motorized vehicles from using sidewalks on Fort Myers Beach.
On Monday the Town Council voted to move the ordinance change onto a second public hearing on April 7th where it will be discussed and voted on one final time. It appears likely the ordinance change will pass, although every Town Council member admits enforcing bike speeds is nearly impossible.
Vice Mayor Jim Attorholt said the Lee County Sheriff’s Department told him that there’s no way to track the speed of bicycles so the council is hoping bikers are courteous and use common sense when in an area with a lot of pedestrian traffic.Â
The danger zone is basically from the Sea Grape Plaza to Times Square. That’s where the bike lane in the street ends and as you get closer to Times Square, pedestrian traffic increases, especially during season. It’s in that area where it becomes more dangerous for all bikers to ride. The Town Council is trying to make ebiking on Fort Myers Beach safer while not making it unsafe for walkers. It’s a tough needle to thread.Â
The new ordinance would allow ebikes to go only up to 10MPH on the sidewalks but require them to slow to 1-3 MPH when passing pedestrians. It would require bikers to alert pedestrians they are coming by, which most courteous bikers do already.Â
While Lee County owns Estero Boulevard and the sidewalks, the town’s code enforcement officers will be keeping an eye out for bikers who may be endangering the safety of pedestrians. If they spot a bad actor how or she may get a verbal warning or a fine. The dollar amount of the fine should be finalized by the April 7th hearing and vote. The issue will mainly be in the crowded areas. If someone is riding an ebike on the sidewalk at 20 MPH on the south end and there are no pedestrians around they will not be targeted by enforcement.Â
Only two people spoke at public comment about the proposed ordinance change. However, by the time the issue came up the Town Council meeting had already gone on for 7 hours and the microphone batteries had died so it was unclear if they spoke in favor or against.Â
Last Saturday we were loaned an ebike from Current Riders FMB and recorded a video riding the bike on Estero Boulevard which you can watch HERE
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