Clear Lake Shores residents hop on their golf carts to gather at sunset. Photo by Jimmy Loyd
When Clear Lake Shores decided in the early 1990s to allow golf carts on its streets, there were only a few in the city.

“Pretty soon, everybody was saying, ‘That’s a good idea because that’s a cheap way to get around,’” said former City Councilman Lowell Brown, who has lived in Clear Lake Shores since 1991. “It just took off.”

Now, golf carts are almost as common as cars on the island of 1,205 residents, and other Clear Lake communities are interested.

In November, Nassau Bay approved an ordinance regulating golf carts on streets, and League City's mayor wants such a measure as well. Seabrook and Taylor Lake Village also have golf carts on their lists of issues to be explored.

Without cities' authorization, golf carts can't go far. Nassau Bay City Attorney Dick Gregg Jr. said Texas law only allows golf carts to be driven in master-planned communities, on beaches and on streets with posted speed limits of 35 mph or less. Even then, they can only venture out during the day and only go to and from golf courses, which can't be any farther than 2 miles away.

But the state’s transportation code allows cities to relax those restrictions -- dropping the daytime rule and cutting golf carts' tether to nearby golf courses -- as long as they make golf carts stick to those 35 mph streets and require basic safety equipment like parking brakes, lights and reflectors.

Since Texas law's murky on whether cities must adopt actual ordinances to that effect or simply draw up some informal rules, most cities that embrace golf carts adopt ordinances to be on the safe side.

League City Mayor Toni Randall, who owns a pink golf cart with a white top, has said she is in favor of a city ordinance that would allow golf carts on city streets with speed limits of 30 miles per hour or less. Randall said she also wants golf carts to be registered annually with the city and for their drivers to have valid driver’s licenses.

At a public hearing last month in League City, there was strong support for the vehicles, with no one speaking against them. Randall said she expects City Council to approve a golf cart ordinance by this summer.

“Not everybody is going to go to this type of vehicle, but I foresee somewhere in the future that local transportation may end up being something like that,” League City Councilman Jim Nelson said.

Since Nassau Bay’s golf cart ordinance went into effect, there have been more of the vehicles on city streets, City Manager Chris Reed said. His city’s ordinance allows golf carts to be driven on streets with speed limits up to 35 miles per hour, and Nassau Bay's highest speed limit is just 35 mph.

Nassau Bay also requires golf carts to be operated by licensed drivers and have the state-required safety equipment.

“We’ve had nothing negative,” Reed said. "Everything we’ve got has been positive.”

Clear Lake Shores' city administrator and police chief, Paul Shelley, said his city has a set of safety rules for golf carts but doesn't have an actual ordinance regulating golf carts. That's going to be remedied, he said.

Since golf carts have been allowed in the city, Mayor Vern Johnson said he could only recall a minor collision between one of the vehicles and a car that happened years ago.

He believes that golf carts promote interaction between residents and that Clear Lake cities should adopt a universal ordinance regulating the vehicles.

“It’s catching on,” Johnson said. “People are learning. I think it’s important. It’s not a really stupid idea to be able to take something besides your car or bicycle to go somewhere.”