Miami’s County Commission voted on Tuesday to fast track a proposal to let Key Biscayne set its own e-bike and scooter rules on Crandon Boulevard. At the urging of Commissioner Raquel Regalado, normal legislative timetables were waived and the ordinance will come up for a public hearing April 8th.
The County measure is meant to dovetail with Key Biscayne’s emergency ordinance that banned the devices on local streets. The Village ban is set for renewal next month.
Gaining the ability to regulate the busy thoroughfare would allow the Village to have a comprehensive law on the battery-powered devices island-wide. Manager Steve Williamson is hoping a permanent law can be adopted by June.
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The County measure passed on first reading unanimously. It sets up a process for all Miami-Dade municipalities to craft specific rules for County-owned roads lying within their borders. Had commissioners not voted to accelerate the timeline, the ordinance would have needed to wait until mid-May for its first hearing.
The draft ordinance would:
A community wanting to write its own rules for County roads would be required to get approval from the the Department of Transportation and Public Works and negotiate a contract, known as an interlocal agreement, spelling out how local regulations would work. A public awareness campaign and signs would also need to be posted.
One thing that neither the County nor Village ordinances do would be to set age or license restrictions. A proposal to let Florida municipalities adopt those kinds of restrictions failed in the State Senate after gaining unanimous approval in the House. State Rep. Vicki Lopez says she intends to re-introduce her measure next year.
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Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.