Del Mar City Council approves ordinance to regulate e-bikes, bicycles

Del Mar City Council members gave their initial approval April 7 for an ordinance to regulate bicycles on city streets, spurred by the increased popularity of e-bikes, although they asked city staff to research potentially stricter measures to ban riding on sidewalks.
The council approved the ordinance 3-0, with Councilmember Dan Quirk absent. It is now pending a second reading next month.
The ordinance had been discussed for years. More e-bike riders on local streets throughout San Diego have led to more collisions, injuries and a few tragic deaths in coastal North County.
Bicyclists are already subject to existing traffic laws, but the local ordinances have been tailored to give the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office enforcement options that help promote safer e-bike riding. Enforcement in other cities, and in the Del Mar ordinance, include a diversion program that allows first-time violators to take an online safety course.
Solana Beach and Encinitas, which, like Del Mar, are policed by the sheriff, already adopted their own ordinances for e-bikes and bicycles. Del Mar City Manager Ashley Jones said the new ordinance “is geared toward keeping everybody safe and having consistent rules with our neighbors.”
“We’re hearing things from other communities that have had a proliferation of e-bikes and along with that some very dangerous conditions, serious accidents,” Jones said. “Fortunately, Del Mar has not seen that magnitude here, but it’s important for us to keep our code updated.”
“To me, the real thrust of this is we’re just giving the sheriff direction so that for all the cities they patrol, it’s an equal ordinance,” Del Mar City Councilmember John Spelich said. “So they don’t have to think oh I’m in Del Mar, you’re allowed to do this that you can’t do in Solana Beach.”
Council members said they wanted to look into whether they could prohibit riding on all sidewalks throughout the city before approving the second reading of the ordinance. The current version of the ordinance specifies only sidewalks in business districts. City staff members said they will research any relevant state laws and consult with the sheriff to evaluate whether the city can have stricter sidewalk rules.
“I see kids riding e-bikes in the middle of our roads that go from the road, to the bike path, to the sidewalk, back to the road,” Del Mar City Councilmember Tracy Martinez said. “So it is an issue, I see it all over town.”
She added that the ordinance is “long overdue.”