Culver’s golf cart ordinance may soon be getting some clarifications. An amended ordinance was presented for first reading during last week’s town council meeting, by Council President Ginny Bess Munroe. “Basically, nothing is changing,” she explained. “We are clarifying our ordinance because we find that when we try to enforce it, people don’t have an understanding of the fact that you shouldn’t have a four-year-old driving your golf cart. So we’ve added some language here, throughout this.”
Among other things, the proposed ordinance specifies that anyone operating a golf cart must be at least 16 years of age and should not operate under the influence of alcohol. Munroe added, “One of our sentences read, ‘In addition, all golf carts and animal-drawn vehicles operated for business purposes must be equipped with a rear-view mirror,’ and now it says, ‘that is operational.’ So you can’t just duct tape one up there.”
The proposed language also reminds golf cart users not to drive or park on sidewalks, curbs, the grassy area within the Town Park, or others’ private property. Council members also agreed to add the walking/biking trail to the list of prohibited areas.
However, it was noted that the park superintendent may grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis, to allow people with disabilities to use golf carts to reach boat slips and certain areas of the park. Most of the provisions that apply to golf carts also apply to animal-drawn vehicles used for business purposes, mirroring language found in state statute.
The amended golf cart ordinance will be up for final approval at a future meeting.
