Cerro Gordo supervisors approve second reading of golf cart ordinance
MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors Tuesday passed the second reading of an amendment to the ordinance regarding the use of golf carts on roads in the unincorporated areas of the county, and the supervisors will be considering a change of the county’s all-terrain vehicle and off-road utility vehicles ordinance to clean up some language dealing with golf carts.
Under the previous version of the ordinance, golf carts could only be operated on certain county roads for the purpose of traveling to and from a golf course located within the county. If approved on three readings, the amendment would allow golf carts to be operated on roads in any unincorporated areas that do not have a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Golf carts would be required to have a six-foot high flag and have a slow-moving sign on the back of it.
The county’s director of administrative services Tom Meyer says the county now needs to alter the ATV and Off-Road Utility Vehicle ordinance to exclude golf carts. “I’ve been in contact with the Department of Natural Resources. Currently, golf carts can be registered as off-road vehicles through the county recorder, so in order to have our golf cart ordinance take over golf carts, we’re going to have to put a provision in the current ATV ordinance basically excluding those from that ordinance and then they would fall to the golf cart ordinance.”
Meyer says there’s also some safety issues with golf carts that aren’t covered under the ATV ordinance. “If a golf cart got registered through the ATV ordinance, of course there’s less safety precautions as we’re going to have in the golf cart ordinance for those types of slow-moving vehicle. So there are additional provisions under the golf cart ordinance that would provide more visual signage on the golf cart that would be required.”
The supervisors set the public hearing and first consideration of changing the ATV ordinance for their July 30th meeting. The supervisors will also act on the third and final reading of the golf cart ordinance changes at that same meeting.
