Council OKs golf carts on city streets

GENTRY — The City Council voted Monday to allow golf carts on city streets, providing drivers are at least age 21 and obey all applicable traffic laws, yield to all motor vehicles, avoid obstructing traffic and include a reflective caution triangle on the rear of the vehicle.

A driver’s license will not be required.

Golf carts may not be operated at night unless equipped with operational headlights, brake lights and turn signals, according to the ordinance.

While the carts may be driven across a state highway, they may not be operated on any state or federal highways or highway spurs within the city.

The ordinance also prohibits operating golf carts within a designated school zone when the school-zone lights are flashing.

Drivers of golf carts must ensure that all passengers remain seated and abide by the golf cart manufacturer’s capacity limits. The new law prohibits modifying golf carts to increase their speed capacity or to disable safety features.

The ordinance goes into effect in 30 days.

The ordinance was passed to make it easier for residents with limited mobility to travel around the city, do their shopping and run errands without the expense of running a licensed motor vehicle.

A similar ordinance was tabled at the June meeting which had set the minimum age for drivers at 16 and had no requirements for passengers being seated, following the manufacturer’s seating capacity limits, or being operated in school zones.

The changes were made out of concerns drivers younger than 18 couldn’t be sued for damages and some might overload the golf carts with young passengers. The age of 21 and the school zone restrictions were added to ensure high school students wouldn’t be permitted to drive golf carts to and from schools and the slower moving golf carts wouldn’t obstruct traffic flow during the busy times when students are transported to and from schools.

Councilman Jason Williams opposed the measure, citing safety concerns for operators and passengers since golf carts don’t include highway safety features required in autos. Other council members voted in favor of the ordinance.

Following a public hearing regarding properties at 317 S. Collins Ave. and 119 N. Nelson Ave., the council condemned the Collins property, which has have been out of compliance with city code for several years. The action requires any occupants of the properties vacate the structure within 30 days and gives the property owner an additional 30 days to bring the structure into compliance with city code or remove it.

After 60 days, if the code violations aren’t fixed, the city will have the right to demolish the structure and place a lien against the property for the costs.

The council tabled until the September meeting condemning the property on North Nelson to allow the property owner’s son to inspect the structure and see if it can be brought into compliance or needs to be removed.

Reasons cited to condemn the property at 119 N. Nelson include large holes in the roof, holes in the interior floor, exposed electrical wiring, plumbing in disrepair, and a collapsing shed.

At 317 S. Collins, missing footings and foundation walls, piers insufficient for the load, missing joist headers, improper support of roof structure, sagging rafters, and no sheathing under the eaves were cited.

Also passed were rezoning land south of the intersection of Arkansas 12 and 59 and to the east of Arkansas 59 owned by RLP Development from R-1 residential to C-2 commercial and establishing a procedure for the zoning of newly annexed lands.

Mayor Kevin Johnston updated the council on progress on the Dawn Hill East Bridge replacement project, the park plan, and a planned water storage facility to supply the eastern portions of the Gentry water system.