The Burlington City Council on Monday approved the first reading of changes to city code that will allow the use of golf carts, all-terrain vehicles and utility vehicles on city streets at speeds no greater than 35 mph regardless of posted speed limits.

Pending either the approval of a second and third reading or the approval of a second reading and waiving of a third reading, drivers of ATVs, UTVs and golf carts will be permitted on all city streets with the exception of U.S. 61, which includes Roosevelt Avenue aside from crossing it, and U.S. 34. This is because state law enacted in July prohibits the use of those vehicles from four-lane and interstate roads.

"ATVs, UTVs and golf carts shall not be operated at a speed exceeding 35 mph on any street or roadway within the city," the ordinance states.

Burlington City Manager Chad Bird pointed out that the wording differs from language previously discussed by the council that would have prohibited the use of the vehicles on streets or roadways whose posted speed limits exceed 35 mph.

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"There was conversation about limiting these vehicles to streets posted at 35 miles per hour or below, but that sentence really does say something different," Bird said. "It would imply that if there was a street in the city that has a posted speed limit of 40 mph, these vehicles can operate on it but must stay below 35 mph, and that’s different than being restricted to streets posted at 35 mph or below."

Jack Dahlsten, who helped organize Des Moines County's ATV/UTV ordinance that was adopted in 2018, urged the council to keep the wording of the ordinance as it was presented to make things less confusing for law enforcement and drivers of ATVs, UTVs and golf carts.

"I'm asking you guys to ... get uniformed here," Dahlsten said. "You should just stick with the state law."

He also pointed out that disallowing the vehicles from roads with speed limits in excess of 35 mph would prevent them from being able to travel on Bluff Road, which has about a half-mile stretch with a 40 mph speed limit.

Bluff Road is heavily traveled by those going from Des Moines County 99 to the downtown area and vice versa, Dahlsten pointed out, noting that not being able to travel the length of that roadway would put him and other ATV, UTV and golf cart operators closer to businesses in Mediapolis than in downtown Burlington. He pointed specifically to the Dairy Queen on Burlington's Main Street and an ice cream shop in Mediapolis.

The idea of losing business was enough for councilman Robert Critser.

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"I want this gentleman to buy ice cream here," he said while speaking in favor of city code mirroring the state law.

The council also briefly discussed the possibility of changing the speed limit along Bluff Road to 35 mph to accommodate ATVs, UTVs and golf carts.

"There's two ways we could do it," Mayor Jon Billups said. "You could change the limit on Bluff Road to 35 or you could change the ordinance to mirror the state. My personal preference is that we would mirror the state code as much as possible and go from there, because that way, the state and county and Burlington are all the same."

Councilwoman Lynda Murray said she would be in favor of doing both.

"I’m OK with mirroring the state code, and I’m not opposed to reducing the rate there on Bluff Road to 35 because the traffic just blasts through there and it is so loud and it echoes up there," she said.

Bird, however, said the speed limit there is a separate issue and that a traffic study would be needed before he would recommend changing it.

Nick MacGregor, assistant city manager to public works, said there are other 40 mph road segments in Burlington, and restricting access of those roadways by ATVs, UTVs and golf carts could be unnecessarily complicated.

Others who spoke during the public hearing voiced their support for the council's efforts in crafting the ordinance.

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"Thank you on behalf of the golf cart owners," said K.C. Fleming. "I’m somebody who bought a golf cart with all the stuff — tail lights, head lights, seatbelts, rearview mirrors. I sent photos to you guys earlier and I appreciate you guys going about this the right way. I know a lot of people, at least on the north side of town on the golf cart side of things will be very happy."

Jake Huebner, one of a group of community members and UTV enthusiasts who has been working with the city and police department for several months to get the ordinance going, also expressed his gratitude.

"I think we’ve got a great ordinance and it’s going to do a lot of good things for the city, get some business in here, get some things going," he said.

While the ordinance takes on slightly looser regulations in terms of which streets ATVs, UTVs and golf carts can travel on, there are still plenty of rules to follow: