Menu
City UTV ordinance tabled for second time
An ordinance on the proposed use of UTVs within the City of Greencastle is spinning its wheels for the second time in two months.
After some 30 minutes of discussion again at the January City Council meeting Thursday night at City Hall, the new Council with four new members voted 5-1 to table Ordinance 2023-7 on second reading on a motion by Councilman David Masten and a second from Darrel Thomas.
Katherine Asbell, Tina Nicholson and Stacie Langdon added affirmative votes, while Vince Aguirre, the Council’s lone Democrat, voted against tabling the item for a second time.
New Mayor Lynda Dunbar put the tabling decision into perspective for about a dozen UTV owners in the audience hoping for passage.
“We’ve got a new City Council and a new mayor,” she reasoned. “We’re going to work to get this done.”
City officials have already made concessions on the ordinance, taking away the weight restriction to where it now reads that the vehicles can be no more than 2,500 pounds, while it was also noted that the Kubota versions of the UTV that the city and DePauw University own and operate -- 26 of them alone by DePauw -- can only run at 25 or 26 mph. That would put them in violation of the stipulation that the vehicles need to keep up with the posted speed limit, which is 35 mph most places around town.
“The real change,” City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said, “is that (UTV owners) don’t have to come back in to be inspected after three years.”
Ashley Sims, who served more or less as the spokesman for the pro-UTV group, questioned the need for the $100 city inspection fee and subsequent $35 registration fees in succeeding years. The Department of Natural Resources only charges $30 for three years, she noted.
“That’s where the sticker shock comes in,” Sims added.
“We’re still going to keep the inspection process,” Mayor Dunbar responded, noting that inspection entails checking for a valid driver’s license, insurance, seatbelts and lights among other things.
The timeframe prohibiting UTV use on city streets -- from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. -- was also called into question as UTV owners said they often go visit people or go to dinner and return home around 11 p.m., adding that in the summer they are out riding past that time.
Mayor Dunbar pointed out that most of the complaints received at City Hall about the proposed ordinance involve noise.
UTV owner Mike Curtis, who spoke extensively at the December Council session when the ordinance was first tabled on second reading, noted that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are allowed everywhere and “you can hear a Harley coming down the road for miles.”
Councilman Masten suggested it was “preposterous” that different regulations are in place in different municipalities like Rockville and Brazil.
“There should be more uniformity,” he said. “There needs to be a standard to this rather than going from community to community.”
For instance, it was noted that Parke County and Rockville do not post what streets UTVs are allowed to travel on, even though that is stipulated in the state statute, as noted by City Attorney Hardwick.
Masten noted that posting each street could be considered overkill.
“The whole notion of signage has been an issue across the country,” he said, referring to it as “sign pollution.”
Hardwick noted that the state statute requires the posting of streets on which UTVs are allowed “at the entrance to each road.”
It’s going to be an expense to the city, she added. Mayor Dunbar has suggested it could be as much as $5,000 to have the signs made and installed.
Masten suggested putting signage only at the main entrances to the city.
“Then they wouldn’t be allowed on other city streets,” Hardwick replied. “We have to comply with that provision.”
“If we had no cost in it, it would be a different story,” Masten said before his tabling motion, noting that Greencastle taxpayers have a stake in it because of the cost.
Aguirre told the UTV group he would be “happy to be an ally for you in the future” and even work to reduce fees.
Nicholson, meanwhile, noted that those owners in the audience have taken it upon themselves to be aware of the proposed city ordinance and its ramifications.
“You guys are educating yourselves,” the new councilor said. “We have to worry about all the other people. We’re not worried about your group, just everybody else who tries to push the limit.”
The group was asked how many UTV owners live in the city.
“One hundred or more,” Curtis responded from the audience. “Any road you ride along on a nice day, you’re going to pass two or three of them.”
Meanwhile, Oscar King Jr., the city’s water and wastewater superintendent, who is credited with initiating conversation about the legality of UTVs on city streets, clarified that the initial $100 inspection fee includes the $35 registration for the first year.
“I can make that clearer (in the ordinance),” Hardwick responded.
No one attending the Council meeting expressed opposition to the ordinance, although it was noted that City Hall has received complaints about it via email and phone calls
Prior to the tabling of the ordinance, Sims suggested one revision herself, saying that anyone under 18 years of age should be required to wear a helmet to operate a UTV as that is a state statute requirement.
Specifically excluded by the ordinance for use on city streets are golf carts, ATVs, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and slow-moving vehicles, all of which are not recreational off-highway vehicles and not allowable by state statute.
According to the ordinance, recreational off-highway vehicles shall:
• Be larger than 50 inches but less than 80 inches in width when measured from outside of tire rim to outside of tire rim.
• Have a dry weight less than 2,500 pounds.
• Be designed for travel on four non-highway or off-highway tires.
• Be equipped with such equipment as safety belts for the driver and all passengers, either side mirrors or a rear-view mirror, traditional steering wheel, two headlights, turn signals and at least one brake light.
Driver and passenger requirements include:
• Drivers shall be at least 18 years old and possess a valid operator’s license.
• Drivers shall possess proper insurance.
• Any driver or passenger must wear a seatbelt in accordance with Indiana law.
• No children requiring use of a harness seat are allowed as passengers.
As far as operations are concerned, recreational off-highway vehicles:
• Shall be driven on city streets and alleys only and not on berms, sidewalks, pathways or city grass.
• Are not permitted on city streets from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
• May not travel on Veterans Memorial Highway.
• Shall not be driven on state property, except while crossing at right angles for purposes of getting from one area to another.
Violations of the ordinance will include a $100 fine for a first offense, $250 fine and 60-day suspension from using the vehicles on city streets on a second violation and $500 fine and lifetime suspension for a third offense.