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Bradenton Beach enacting micromobility leasing moratorium

Bradenton Beach placing moratorium on leasing

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – The Bradenton Beach City Commission is in the process of enacting a temporary 180-day moratorium on the leasing of micromobility devices that include three-wheeled autocycles and motorized scooters and bicycles.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, the city commission unanimously supported Ordinance 25-24 as presented on first reading. If adopted on second and final reading in early November, the six-month moratorium will take effect retroactively back to Sept. 1.

City Attorney Ricinda Perry said the moratorium is not an attempt to prohibit rented autocycles or other street-legal devices from traveling from other points of the Island into Bradenton Beach.

“We don’t care about them driving on the streets, because that’s something I can’t prohibit under the state statute, but what I can do is prevent the businesses from setting up and creating a point of sale within the city. That is what we’re targeting. We don’t want them stored here. We’re finding these companies are storing their stuff on vacant land or on city property and coming around and collecting it whenever they want. We’re targeting that behavior,” Perry told The Sun on Monday.

With the capability to travel at speeds greater than 20 mph, three-wheeled autocycles are considered street legal in Florida. The state requires autocycles to be licensed, insured and operated by someone who is at least 16 years old and has a valid driver’s license.

During Thursday’s meeting, Mayor John Chappie said he asked Perry to prepare a moratorium ordinance for commission consideration.

Perry then read aloud the title section of the requested ordinance: “An ordinance declaring, establishing and imposing a temporary moratorium on the issuance of any authorizations, permits or franchises pertaining to micromobility hubs, the use of, or the offering for hire of, micromobility devices including but not limited to motorized scooters, motorized bicycles and scoot coupes (auto cycles) within the incorporated area of the city of Bradenton Beach for a period of 180 days in order to allow an opportunity for the city to develop regulations for such uses in the city.”

The ordinance notes Florida Statute 316.003(38) defines a micromobility device as “Any motorized transportation made available for private use by reservation through an online application, website, or software for point-to-point trips and which is not capable of traveling at a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on level ground.”

A clause contained in the ordinance states, “Shared use programs result in micromobility devices being left unattended and parked or leaned on walls or sidewalks, thereby creating a hazard and impediment to accessibility for pedestrians and persons with mobility challenges.”

Another clause says, “The city commission finds and declares a need to temporarily prohibit the offering for hire of motorized scooters and micromobility devices within the city in order to allow for the development of regulations for such uses.”

According to the ordinance, “During the period of this moratorium, the city shall not process or issue any authorizations, permits or franchises, nor shall it process any applications, concerning micromobility hubs/kiosks or the offering for hire of motorized scooters or micromobility devices within the city.”

Perry told the commission the moratorium would prevent the city from issuing a business tax receipt license or allowing someone to seek city approval to open a micromobility leasing business while the moratorium remains in effect.

“We essentially have six months to figure out the regulations and how we want to do this. A lot of jurisdictions have been going through this in the last six to 12 months, including the city of Bradenton. Anna Maria has adopted a moratorium. Holmes Beach is adopting a moratorium. There’s a lot of regulations coming out on this particular topic,” Perry told the commission.

“I’m fine with all this right now. We need to get a handle on it,” Chappie said.

“I agree,” Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said.

Commissioners ready autocycle moratorium

Commissioners ready autocycle moratorium

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Officials here are working towards putting some restrictions on autocycle operations and rentals in the city.

The moratorium, which is scheduled to begin as soon as the ordinance passes a final reading and continue until Feb. 1, 2021, blocks businesses from renting the three-wheeled autocycles in the city. The moratorium allows commissioners time to work on proposed legislation governing the operation and rental of the miniaturized vehicles in the city.

The autocycles look like tiny cars and two different versions are rented on the Island. One version comes from Robinhood Rentals in Anna Maria and the other from The Toy Barn in Holmes Beach. If the moratorium passes, it won’t affect any existing rental businesses in the city which would be grandfathered in.

Commissioners agreed there needs to be some type of regulation for the vehicles, which can pose a safety hazard due to their low profile in comparison to standard vehicles on the road. Some of the vehicles also do not have the ability to travel in reverse and have to be manually pushed. Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said he feels the vehicles need some regulation to be operated in the city for safety reasons. Some commissioners had stronger feelings.

Commissioner Pat Morton said he feels some of the drivers of the vehicles are not trained properly by the rental company and drive recklessly, potentially causing harm to themselves and other people.

“People use this city like a playground,” Morton said, adding that he’s seen the vehicles traveling along two-lane streets side-by-side, appearing to race while also being driven too close to pedestrians.

“I think they see it as a beach toy,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said of the autocycle vehicles. “We have enough congestion. I’d like to see some of the toys off the road.”

While the moratorium moves to a first reading at an upcoming regular commission meeting, commissioners also are moving forward with regulation of the autocycles. The draft currently being considered would grandfather in the current businesses renting the vehicles but block any new businesses from coming to the city. It also would prohibit the use of the vehicles on city sidewalks and bicycle lanes.

Scoot coupe ban under reconsideration

Scoot coupe ban under reconsideration

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – If you’re seeing scoot coupes being driven along the road in Holmes Beach, you’re not imagining things and they’re not in violation of the city’s ordinance.

During a Jan. 28 meeting, City Attorney Patricia Petruff said that she received a letter from attorney Aaron Thomas representing Robinhood Rentals owner Mark Toomey. In the letter, Thomas called the micro-mobility ordinance passed by commissioners Jan. 14 after two votes and public hearings overbroad.

Petruff said that she agrees with the assertion and advised commissioners to revisit the ordinance, potentially lifting the ban on scoot coupes, the three-wheeled mini cars rented in Anna Maria, and reconsidering allowing the mini-cars on roads with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour or less.

Toomey attended the meeting where he spoke to commissioners, asking them to lift the ban since he had been unable to rent the mini-cars since receiving notice of the new ordinance and ban on the vehicles in Holmes Beach. Before receiving word of the ban, he said that he’d had no prior notice of the ban when commissioners were considering it.

Petruff said that if commissioners do not lift the ban on the mini cars, she feels it would result in litigation against the city. She recommended the prohibition on the mini-cars be lifted.

While commissioners reconsider the issue, Petruff asked Police Chief Bill Tokajer to have HBPD officers not issue tickets to the scoot coupe mini cars coming into the city and to notify any company renting the cars that commissioners are reconsidering the ban.

During previous discussions on the scoot coupes, both commissioners and Holmes Beach residents spoke out against allowing the mini-cars on city streets for safety reasons. Residents also expressed concerns about limiting the mini-cars to roads with a 25 mph speed limit because it would take them off the main roads and put them in residential neighborhoods.

At the Jan. 28 meeting, Toomey said that the mini-cars have a 49 cc engine and can travel up to 35 mph and are allowed on roads up to 45 mph, though he doesn’t recommend his renters drive them off Anna Maria Island. He said that the mini-cars have not been involved in an accident that he’s aware of in Holmes Beach in 20 months.

“I understand that not everybody likes the scoot coupes but they are a street-legal vehicle,” he said, adding that he would be willing to sit down with commissioners and reach a compromise on the vehicles’ operation in Holmes Beach.