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A city in Georgia is the inspiration for a plan in Westfield to allow golf carts to be driven in more areas throughout the community.
In a presentation to the Westfield City Council on Monday, Westfield Police Department Assistant Chief Scott Jordan said a group of city officials will visit Peachtree City, Georgia, this fall. Peachtree City, a community of more than 39,000 residents about 30 miles south of Atlanta, has 13,000 households, 11,000 registered golf carts and 100 miles of golf cart paths, Jordan said.
“To visualize this, their high school has 600 golf cart parking spots,” he said. “So, we really want to visit. We’ve talked to them on the phone, but we want to learn more about the challenges they’ve had, the culture, success, what’s worked and what hasn’t.”
Westfield is beginning the process to update its golf cart ordinance, which was established in 2011, allowing golf carts to be driven on public roads with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour or less.
The ordinance was expanded in 2018 to include perimeter paths and neighborhood paths, including the eastern portion of the Midland Trace Trail, in the southeast quadrant of the city, mostly around the Bridgewater, Brookside and Oak Manor neighborhoods.
Jordan said Westfield had about 120 golf carts when the ordinance was first passed. Now, there are 900 registered golf carts and 100 to 200 unregistered golf carts in the city.
Golf cart parking spots are becoming more common at new developments and buildings in Westfield. The new Westfield Washington Public Library has reserved parking spots for golf carts, and the planned Jersey Street development will also feature golf cart parking spots.
“Our existing city ordinance, which is almost 14 years old now, is outdated and prevents residents from fully utilizing golf carts to reach parks, schools, restaurants, business districts and schools throughout the community,” Jordan said. “Basically, we have a 14-year-old ordinance that hasn’t kept up with the times.”
Mayor Scott Willis told IBJ last month that expanding golf cart usage and updating the city’s ordinance is a priority for him, and he wants the city’s trail system, except for the Monon Trail, to be open for golf carts.
“The Midland connects [the southeast side] to downtown, and you’ll see a lot of residents grab golf carts and go downtown, which helps keeps people off the roads, keeps congestion down,” he said. “Road deterioration is down when you don’t have cars on the roads all the time, so it’s been a win for the city, but it’s more of an experience for the residents to be able to hop on that golf cart and buzz downtown in five minutes.”
He said Westfield’s trails are four feet wider than the golf cart paths in Peachtree. He expects there will be a learning experience for walkers, runners, bicyclists and golf cart users to learn who has right-of-way and how each interacts with the other.
“We’re going to have some hiccups along the way, I’m sure, but it’s very doable and it’s already working in other parts of the city,” Willis said.
In 2020, a resident started an unsuccessful petition to rescind the city’s golf cart ordinance after her husband had a close call with a golf cart driver while biking. However, Jordan said there have been no major crashes or incidents between golf carts and pedestrians on the trails.
“We haven’t had issues with it,” Willis said. “I’m sure we’ll have a few just like we do with bikes and pets and all the other things that walk along that trail, but we can manage it.”
Jordan told council members that the city will first create a working group consisting of community members, city councilors and city staff to examine expanding the use of golf carts. Secondly, a group of city officials will visit Peachtree this fall to learn more about how the Georgia city has expanded golf cart usage since the late 1950s.
City leaders will conduct a listening tour throughout the city to hear concerns from residents, understand gaps in the trail system and identify safety issues.
Jordan said the next step would be to rewrite the city’s ordinance, work on a connectivity plan and registration strategy, develop a trail connectivity and safety improvement plan, and create a timeline for the city council to act on the updated ordinance, which could occur next spring.
If council members approve the ordinance, the city would then work to educate and inform residents about enforcement provisions, registration and golf cart requirements, and rules of the road before the city’s golf cart plan is officially rolled out.
“I think it’d be something unique that no other city has at least in this area,” Willis said. “It will differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”
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This is a colossally bad idea. The trails we have now are barely wide enough to accommodate mixed bicycle and foot traffic. Throwing golf carts into the mix is only going to make things worse. Sure you can solve that by widening trails and/or adding cart only trails, but where is the money going to come from for that?
In case you haven’t noticed, the state is poised to cut property taxes and the GOP “plans” put forth so far don’t offer any way for local governments to replace the lost revenue. Sure you could use TIF’s to prop up this pet project, but are you willing to literally defund the police, fire, roads, and schools to pay for it?
Is this really the most pressing issue for Westfield? When you were on the campaign trail last year, was this the #1 thing you were hearing from your constituents (outside of Bridgewater)? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this. Or were you just not listening to the people outside your affluent bubble?
Matthew is obviously not a golf cart owner and not in favor of expanding opportunities in Westfield. Please know that we support this initiative 100%. It will be a great addition and unique benefit for those who live in Westfield.
Thank you mayor for your desire to see this service expanded in our community.
This will definitely be an added benefit to Westfield! We support it 100%!
That’s an awesome prospect of infrastructure.
The positives far outweigh any negatives which are negligible from my perspective. We do need some north and south corridor for golf carts if the Monon is off limits. The Parks system could benefit from all of this connectivity. Plus the surrounding areas to Grand Park….the Chatham neighborhoods are already there.
I agree with MM..
“Is this really the most pressing issue for Westfield? When you were on the campaign trail last year, was this the #1 thing you were hearing from your constituents (outside of Bridgewater)? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this. Or were you just not listening to the people outside your affluent bubble?”
Will be fine if they will crack down on underage golf cart drivers. They always seem to drive with petal to the metal and probably represent the biggest risk to trail walkers and runners.