GENTRY -- An ordinance was passed Monday to allow the use of golf carts on Gentry's city streets, providing drivers are at least 21 years of age and obey all applicable traffic laws, yield to all motor vehicles, avoid obstructing traffic and include a reflective caution triangle on the rear of the vehicle. A driver's license will not be required.
Golf carts may not be operated at night unless equipped with operational headlights, brake lights and turn signals, according to the ordinance.
While the carts may be driven across a state highway, they may not be operated on any state or federal highways or highway spurs within the city.
The ordinance also prohibits operating golf carts within a designated school zone when the school-zone lights are flashing.
Drivers of golf carts must ensure that all passengers remain seated and abide by the golf cart manufacturer's capacity limits. The new law prohibits modifying golf carts to increase their speed capacity or to disable safety features.
The ordinance goes into effect 30 days after passage.
The ordinance was passed to make it easier for residents with limited mobility to travel around the city, do their shopping and run errands without the expense of running a licensed motor vehicle.
A similar ordinance was tabled at the June meeting which had set the minimum age for drivers at 16 and had no verbiage in regard to passengers being seated, following the manufacturer's seating capacity limits, or being operated in school zones.
The changes were made out of concerns that drivers under the age of 18 could not be sued for damages and that some might overload the golf carts with young passengers. The age of 21 and the school zone restrictions were added to ensure that high school students would not be permitted to drive golf carts to and from schools and that the slower moving golf carts would not obstruct traffic flow during the busy times when students are transported to and from schools.
Councilman Jason Williams opposed the measure, citing safety concerns for operators and passengers since golf carts do not include highway safety features required in automobiles. Other council members voted in favor of the ordinance.
Following a public hearing regarding properties at 317 S. Collins Ave. and 119 N. Nelson Ave., the council passed a resolution condemning the Collins property, which has have been out of compliance with city code for several years. The resolution requires that any occupants of the properties vacate the structure within 30 days and gives the property owner an additional 30 days to bring the structure into compliance with city code or remove it.
After 60 days, if the code violations are not abated, the city will have the right to demolish the structure and place a lien against the property for the costs the city incurs to remove the safety hazards.
The council tabled until the regular September meeting a resolution to condemn the property on N. Nelson to allow the property owner's son to inspect the structure and see if it can be brought into compliance or needs to be removed. The resolution would have condemned the property and given the property owner 30 days to abate the code violations.
Reasons cited to condemn the property at 119 N. Nelson include large holes in the roof, holes in the interior floor, exposed electrical wiring, plumbing in disrepair, and a collapsing shed.
At 317 S. Collins, missing footings and foundation walls, piers insufficient for the load, missing joist headers, improper support of roof structure, sagging rafters, and no sheathing under the eaves were cited.
Also passed were ordinances rezoning land south of the intersection of Arkansas Highways 12 and 59 and to the east of Highway 59 owned by RLP Development from R-1 Residential to C-2 Commercial and establishing a procedure for the zoning of newly annexed lands.
Kevin Johnston, Gentry's mayor, updated the council on progress on the Dawn Hill East Bridge replacement project, the park master plan, and a planned water storage facility to supply the eastern portions of the Gentry water system.