« Ind. Courts - Plan to move office of Starke County Prosecutor from the basement of the jail to the second floor of the court house | Main | Courts - "'Iqbal' Forces Federal Judge's Hand on No-Fly List" »

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Ind. Law - New golf cart law, as amended, may work a hardship on those outside Culver town limits

Here is what Jeff Kenney, Citizen editor, writes in the July 30th Culver Citizen, under the heading "Golf cart conundrum." I've highlighted some passages:

An Indiana law which took effect July 1 has folks in the Culver area debating its merits, particularly those living around Lake Maxinkuckee or operating golf carts around Culver Academies.

House Bill 1483 — which technically includes off-road vehicles, farm wagons, and golf carts — upholds a state ban on operation of golf carts, popular in the Culver area in varying degrees for several years, from being driven on state or county highways. The bill allows town or city municipalities to make their own laws regarding golf cart usage, a clause most directly relevant to Culver, since the town formally passed a golf cart law in 2007, due to many residents’ concerns that the vehicles be regulated.

As a result, since that time those living within the town may legally operate a golf cart, provided they are licensed and insured, comply with the specifics of the ordinance, and register with the town for a golf cart tag, which is good for one year.

The fallout from House Bill 1483 relates to the areas outside the Culver town limits proper. For some years, many residents around the lake have made ample use of golf carts to travel to — naturally — one of the golf courses in the area, to other homes, or even into the town or to the Academies campus. With the passing of the new law, those residents can be ticketed and fined for golf cart usage.

This is particularly impactful in light of last year’s spike in gasoline prices, during which a number of area residents — in and out of the town limits proper — purchased and began using golf carts at a drastically increased rate as a means of economizing.

Another area potentially affected by the law is the Culver Academies’ campus. Golf carts have been the preferred method of transport for everyone from security officers, to tech staff, to camp counselors at the school’s summer camp in to some degree even its winter school. To a large extent, those golf cart users will remain unaffected by the law, since the campus is private property and golf cart use on Academies land is perfectly legal and acceptable.

However, Academies staff will have to take steps, due to the law, to ensure their golf cart routes avoid any travel not only on the two state highways surrounding part of the campus (S.R. 117 and 10), but also Academy Road itself or any other street immediately adjacent to the school.

Culver’s town limits end at the east — that is, in the Culver Academies area — around the old Vandalia railroad tracks, a few short steps west of the western edge of campus (a few hundred feet west of Eppley Auditorium), according to Culver Chief of Police Wayne Bean. He notes, also, the town limits officially end to the south around Chadwick Shores on Long Point, on West Shore Drive, and to the west just past the trailer court on West Jefferson Street.

It may surprise some, Bean points out, to learn the recent legislation was actually aimed at loosening state laws on golf cart usage. “The state is giving cities and towns the opportunity to have golf carts in town under (those communities’) ordinances,” Bean explains. Before the July 1 law was passed, he says, “In some parts of Indiana, county officers were ticketing people in town (for driving the carts).”

Creating some confusion (and admittedly, frustration) locally is the fact that many residents with a Culver address who actually reside in Union Township have purchased tags from the town of Culver for legal golf cart use this year and in years past. Those people, Bean says, are still perfectly legal for in-town driving, “but anything outside of town applies under state statute. People coming from East Shore, for example, if it’s inside town, can use (golf carts). People have been stopped (by police) who have the tag, but (the golf cart) ordinance only applies to town.”

A different story altogether, notes Bean, are golf cart drivers who have not purchased town tags at all, or whose car usage doesn’t comply with the town ordinance in terms of mirrors, lights (golf carts must display a red or amber flashing light at times when headlamps are necessary for other motor vehicles), number of persons on board (which is limited by the intended number of passengers for which the golf cart is built). Some residents appear not to have read the rules of golf cart usage, Bean indicates, which are handed out at the purchase of the $25 cart registration at Culver’s town hall. He also says some specific issues regarding golf cart usage will likely be addressed via ordinance in the near future.

For now, legally registered golf cart users in the area outside Culver’s town limits can use their golf carts in town...they just may have some trouble getting them here.

The complete Culver golf cart ordinance may be read online via the town’s Web site. The state law concerning golf cart usage is available online at HEA 1483-2009.

ILB comments: The heading I've given this entry, "New golf cart law, as amended, may work a hardship on those outside Culver town limits," highlights the point the writer missed in his otherwise excellent analysis.

The law referenced by the writer, HEA 1483, sets out the law re golf carts as adopted in the 2009 regular session. However, several provisions were amended again in the special session, at the behest of the Indiana State Police.

These changes are sets out in HEA 1001-2009SS, SECTION 284, further amending IC 9-17-1-1 (certificates of title), and SECTION 285, further amending IC 9-18-1-1 (MV registration and license plates), narrowing the exceptions for golf carts enacted during the regular session to golf carts operating under an authorizing municipal ordinance. (Note that the exceptions for farm wagons were not narrowed.) See this ILB entry from July 15th and this one from July 17th for the comments of the Indiana State Police.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 5, 2009 05:04 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law