Recent changes in state legislation are prompting a pair of proposed amendments to the way the Naperville Park District regulates electric scooters and drones.
The changes, if approved, would ban the use of electric scooters on park property and tweak how much jurisdiction the district has over drone use. The park district Board of Commissioners is set to vote on the amendments at its meeting Thursday.
Currently, district policies and by-laws permit the use of electric scooters within the park system under the definition of micromobility devices.
Micromobility devices, per an existing district ordinance governing conduct, refer to a “range of small, lightweight vehicles operating at speeds typically below 20 mph and driven by users personally with no more than two passengers,” including unicycles, bicycles, tricycles, shared cycles, electric cycles, scooters, skateboards, electric scooters and electric skateboards.
The text amendment on commissioners’ agenda Thursday would strike electric scooters from that definition.
The modification is in response to a state measure that Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law last month. The legislation — Senate Bill 1960 — created a definition for “low-speed electric scooter” in Illinois Vehicle Code and provides a regulatory framework for the operation of electric scooters by local governments that authorize their use by ordinance.
State Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, introduced the bill early last year.
Speaking to the measure Monday, Koehler said, “This gives very clear guidance to communities as to where (electric scooters) can be used and where they can’t be used.”
As signed into law, however, it raised some concerns that the amended vehicle code language could expose local governments to liability, said Mitchell Remmert, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Initiatives for the Illinois Association of Park Districts.
That’s because the measure, in its final version, was stripped of a provision it had when it was originally introduced that specifically sought to protect local governments, added IAPD spokeswoman Bobbie Jo Hill.
The provision stated that “unless specifically stated otherwise in an ordinance or resolution by a municipality, county, or park district authorizing the use of low-speed electric scooters within its jurisdiction, the use of low-speed electric scooter is not an intended use of a public right-of-way under the Local Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.”
That language “is critical in shielding a local government from liability during a lawsuit if an e-scooter user is injured while operating a device in an area not specifically authorized by the local government’s ordinance,” Hill explained in an email Monday. “The costs of these lawsuits are ultimately passed onto taxpayers.”
But the provision was removed prior to the bill passing the full Illinois General Assembly and being signed into law, Hill said. To help local governments address what it saw as a risk of being opened up to liability, IAPD encouraged its members to work with their local counsel and risk services providers before outright authorizing the use of e-scooters on their property, Hill said.
That notice from IAPD, as well as a similar alert from the Park District Risk Management Agency warning that a close look at local electric scooter regulations was warranted, is what spurred the proposed changes in Naperville Park District’s rules of conduct, said district Executive Director Brad Wilson.
In addition to no longer defining electric scooters as micromobility devices, amended language would also explicitly prohibit low-speed electric scooters within Naperville’s park system.
The second proposed text amendment would update the district’s drone/aviation regulations so that it would have oversight on drones flying 150 feet above park property. Current regulations assert that the district has jurisdiction over 200 feet above ground level.
The adjustment is really to “clean up” the district’s policy so it aligns with recent legislative changes with respect to drones at the state level, Wilson said.
Alongside altering its jurisdiction, the district’s drone policy amendment also identifies that if there is a conflict between the district’s policy and “regulations promulgated by the Illinois Department of Transportation, said regulations shall supersede” the district’s.
Both the drone and electric scooter amendments are on commissioners’ consent agenda Thursday.
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