Bombarded by e-mails and telephone calls about proposals to restrict golf carts on public streets, League City is holding off on making a decision until after a public hearing in January.

League City's City Council was to consider taking action on golf cart regulation during its meeting last night, but instead only discussed it and directed city staff to set up a public hearing in January.

“This is not something that we need to be deciding without public input,” Mayor Toni Randall said.

Under state law, a golf cart can be driven in master-planned communities and on beaches. It can also be operated on a public highway with a speed limit of up to 35 miles per hour, it can be driven no more than 2 miles from its usual parking space, and it can be used for transportation to or from golf courses.

But because the term master-planned community does not have a legal definition, according to City Attorney Arnold Polanco, it is difficult for police officers and residents to know where it's OK to operate a golf cart.

The City Council was told by city staff that an “ever increasing” number of golf carts are being operated on the public roadways throughout the city. They are being driven on streets that are used heavily by cars and are not designed to accommodate golf carts or other slow-moving vehicles.

Many golf carts are being operated by unlicensed minors, carrying unrestrained children or adults with babies in their arms, or overflowing with too many people, according to a data sheet given to the City Council. They are also being used on sidewalks and at night.

The city can prohibit the operation of a golf cart on a public highway if it determines that is necessary in the interest of safety. City staff has already provided City Council with four options for the regulation of golf carts.

OPTION 1

The first option is recommended by city staff and would allow a golf cart to be driven on residential roadways within 1/2 mile of where the vehicle is normally stored. It would prohibit the vehicle from being driven on numbered roadways such as Texas 3, FM 518, and FM 2094 as well as on arterial roadways like Bay Area Boulevard, League City Parkway, Walker Street, Columbia Memorial Parkway, Tuscan Lakes Boulevard between Texas 96 and FM 646, South Shore Boulevard from FM 2094 to FM 646, and Hobbs Road south of League City Parkway W.

A golf cart would only be allowed to be used during the daylight hours. It would, however, be permitted to cross arterial roadways at a perpendicular angle.

OPTION 2

The second option would leave the existing state law unchanged except for prohibiting operation of a golf cart on roadways with a speed limit of greater than 30 miles per hour and on any state-numbered roadway and/ or roadways designated by City Council.

OPTION 3

The third option would restrict the use of a golf cart to residential streets of 30 miles per hour or less. It could only be used for transportation from where the golf cart is normally stored to a golf course for golfing and returning to the same place of storage.

A golf cart’s use would be restricted to within a 1/2 mile of the golf course only during the daytime and would require safety equipment.

OPTION 4

The fourth option would prohibit use of a golf cart on all public roadways in the city.

Randall, the mayor, owns a golf cart and drives it frequently throughout the city. She said she is in favor of a city ordinance that would allow a golf cart on city streets with a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or less.

But she believes that a driver should be required to have a valid driver’s license.

“They ought to be able to be driven in the neighborhood,” Randall said. “It would be a nice thing.”

Randall said a majority of the e-mails and telephone calls that the city has received about golf carts have been in favor of the vehicles.

“People did not want us to do away with golf carts,” she said.

Yet Randall said she is unsure what regulations City Council might decide on for golf carts until January’s public hearing is held.

“We’ll take some information from the citizens and see what they’re looking for,” she said.