10-08-2025 PRMIN - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes October 8, 2025 --------- Page 5 of 10 know how to decipher that as they are going by. He said that when ATVS and snowmobiles started using the trails they used education to get the information out and other trail users ended up enforcing it. Chair Anderson reiterated that EPAMD’s have to be allowed. Mr. Shelby said he wasn’t sure but that he thought if there was a demonstrated need to show they should be limited there could be some latitude to make create limitations, but it wouldn’t be easy. Chair Anderson said those are not the current problem. Commissioner Stewart said a big component is the education piece and if they agree that there will be multiple users on the trails at the same time then they need to get back to basic trail etiquette. He shared that trail etiquette signs in Livonia township on the Great Northern Trail are good, and we need to include that in our education component. Mr. Shelby listed some examples of trail etiquette and pointed out that it is part of the education piece that many cities are using. Chair Anderson asked the Commissioners if they could all agree that all classes of the e-bikes should be allowed with a 20-mph speed limit to be consistent with Sherburne County. Mr. Shelby asked Chair Anderson for confirmation that they would be starting with allowing all three classes of e-bikes but with a speed limit of 20-mph. Mr. Stremcha said that another recommendation could be a trailer placed out on the trail that could help manage the enforcement by posting the speed with the flashers etc. He said it could be moved around to different trails. Chair Anderson said that he doesn’t want any bikes allowed on the green trails. He asked what everyone thought about the mountain bike trails since they are different. Mr. Shelby asked Mr. Burchill what he is seeing at other parks as far as hard regulations. Mr. Burchill said most parks are sticking with class one e-bikes only with pedal assistance and no throttle. He said it is hard to damage a trail with a pedal assisted e-bike. He said a class two e-bike with a throttle could damage the trails. Mr. Burchill said MORC approves all three classes of e-bikes on the mountain bike trails, but his personal opinion is to allow the class one e-bikes only because of the twisting of the trails. Chair Anderson confirmed that everyone agreed that class one, two and three bikes will be allowed on paved trails, class one bikes will be allowed on mountain bike trails and no bikes will be allowed on green trails. Chair Anderson then asked what everyone’s thoughts were about the motorized items on the lower part of his list. Mr. Shelby reviewed the details of the slides describing motorized foot scooters. Some of the Commissioners and staff said they are seeing a significant increase in usage of these around the city. Mr. Shelby said he thinks it is important to consider how an ordinance would be enforced if the scooters were restricted. Chair Anderson said that if a walkway is paved it is a trail and if it is concrete it is defined as a sidewalk. He said he believes that scooter riders should have helmets on if they are under 18. Commissioner Niziolek pointed out that they should be talking about trails since that is their jurisdiction. Mr. Shelby said he believes the only time they can be on sidewalks if they are pulling up at home. Commissioner Loidolt asked where they are going to stop with this as far as having too many restrictions. He said he doesn’t have a problem with these, but he wants to focus on trails and not sidewalks. Commissioner Stewart pointed out that according to the state of Minnesota the motorized foot scooters are treated