A revised Riverhead Town code proposal would scale back several of the broad restrictions on electric bikes the Town Board considered last year, while giving local police stronger tools to enforce rules against underage, reckless and intoxicated riders.

At the board’s April 16 work session, Deputy Town Attorney Danielle Hurley presented a reworked amendment to the town code section governing electric scooters and bicycles with electric assist. The revised draft appears to respond directly to concerns that led the board in October to table two related code changes and seek input from the senior citizens advisory committee and the alternative transportation advisory committee.

The earlier proposal would have imposed a 15 mph speed limit on both electric scooters and e-bikes, banned e-bikes from operating at night, barred them from Main Street between Court Street and Route 58, and prohibited Class 2 e-bikes from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Recreation Trail at EPCAL.

The current draft backs away from much of that.

It would still limit electric scooters to 15 mph, but would allow electric-assist bicycles to travel up to 20 mph, consistent with state law. It would drop the blanket nighttime ban for e-bikes and remove the proposed Main Street prohibition for e-bikes. It also would no longer bar electric bicycles from the EPCAL trail, though electric scooters would still be prohibited there.

That shift was a major theme of the work session discussion.Riverhead has reworked its proposed e-bike code, dropping several broad restrictions considered last fall while adding stronger local enforcement and impound powers.

Council Member Ken Rothwell said the board pulled back the earlier proposal in part because seniors who use electric-assist bikes, particularly on the trail, were concerned about being swept up in an overly broad crackdown.

“A lot of seniors are using e-bikes for recreation,” Rothwell said when the board tabled the earlier measures in October.

At the April 16 work session, Rothwell said older residents had spoken strongly about wanting to make sure they would not be banned or pushed off the roadways or trail. Council Member Bob Kern, who now serves as liaison to the trail committee, also said electric-assist bikes are important for seniors and people with disabilities.

Hurley said the revised proposal would not change the trail rules for electric bicycles.

Source: RiverheadLOCAL