The issue of whether or not to allow golf carts and off-highway vehicles in the Village of South Jacksonville resurfaced at last night’s board meeting.
While the ordinance was denied back in early July, several village residents voiced their disappointment during opening comments, requesting a reconsideration of the ordinance at a future date.
One of those residents was Mike Looker, who says he spent some time asking other village residents about their opinion.
“All I did was ride my little scooter around and saw people mowing yards or walking along the roads and flat asked them, ‘would you like to sign a petitionin favor of golf carts in South Jacksonville?’ I had somewhere around 380 people that signed it. We’ve only got probably 2,500 adults in this little city … I got almost 400 signatures. People aren’t against it, and I think that’s (the board members’) job to do what the people want,” says Looker.
Looker wasn’t the only one who voiced his disapproval. Village resident Larry Summers also spoke briefly about the lack of enforcement regarding the golf cart ordinance.
As for what comes next in terms of a decision, trustee Mike Elliott shared his thoughts on the issue.
“I think with a little more input from the committee we can get some teeth in the violation ordinance. I don’t think we should have too much trouble getting it passed. Since out neighbors to the north have the same ordinance, our public protection committee mirrored our ordinance to go along with theirs. Some of the support we thought we had at the committee has changed their mind. We spent a lot of money on legal fees to get this ordinance done … it’s a very neighborly thing to do. It would be a good thing to do because you have a lot of people who want to travel through South Jacksonville and utilize some of our spots here,” says Elliott.
Elliott also mentioned that since there is an even number of trustees, the board will have to get past a tiebreaker before any changes are made.