BY TERRY SCHMIDA
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Slow your roll.

That’s the message the City Commission sent out on Feb. 5 to expansion-minded electronic vehicle businesses, as well as entrepreneurs looking to cash in on the trend by setting up shop here. Motivated by a growing chorus of concerned citizens, the unfolding experiences of larger jurisdictions – and their own personal familiarity with the subject – the vote by the mayor and commissioners to slam the brakes on uncontrolled growth in the industry was unanimous – if tinged with regret, perhaps, that the need had arisen.

“I think we have a quality of life issue that we need to address, as well as a legislative issue,” said Mayor Teri Johnston, who sponsored the motion before the commissioners, at their regular monthly meeting, to put a hold on expansion while staffers examine the industry. “We need to take a break, step back, and take a look at what kind of community we want to become.”

Specifically the City is “Directing an Ordinance declaring a minimum one hundred and eighty (180) day moratorium on the issuance of any new permit, license, franchise or similar authorization related to motorized and non-motorized commercial rental vehicles that make primary use of city streets in the operation of their businesses; Providing for severability; Providing for repeal of inconsistent provisions.”

In the event, the vote was for 60 days, though Johnston added, after the meeting that she expected to have a new law to vote on well before the deadline; and likely in time for the next City Commission gathering, on March 19.

In effect, growth is being blunted equally for existing businesses and their would-be competitors until City Attorney Shawn Smith and the Legal Department have a chance to set fair rules of the road for all going forward.

During debate, which recalled those that took place during the Segway craze of the early 21st Century, Commissioners had plenty to say about the clogged state of city streets by the owners of some of the many new e-vehicles that have sprung up in the lithium battery age, including electronic skateboards, golf carts/Egg cars, and everything in between.

And while Key West’s current state of e-vehicle anarchy is most clearly observed on busy downtown arteries, concern about the issue appears to know no geographic bounds, with District III Commissioner Billy Wardlow, representing a chunk of New Town, even saying that he “wished he’d co-sponsored” Johnston’s measure.

“My biggest problem is that there are a lot of other cities . . . that are now trying to take it back and they’re having a problem with it,” he said alluding to efforts undertaken by Florida locales such as Tampa and St. Petersburg, to curb their growing e-congestion issues after the fact.

The “best time to deal with it is in the beginning,” Wardlow added, before the City starts facing lawsuits from the victims of accidents involving unregulated e-vehicles. 

Even establishing the number of vehicles and people that will be affected by changes is difficult at this stage, Mayor Johnston said later.

“That’s one of the things we need to know,” she said after the meeting. “So that we can legislate correctly.”

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