For the week of August 8 - 14, 2001

Electric motors a go for Sun Valley’s trail system

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By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer

Bike path users in Sun Valley may run into problems crossing the border onto the bike path in Ketchum or Blaine County from here on out.

That is, if the Sun Valley users are on a motorized vehicle.

With the publication of Sun Valley Ordinance 330 in this issue of the Mountain Express, people can ride vehicles with electric motors on the part of the Wood River Trails System that lies within the city’s limits.

Specifically, the ordinance allows "a human-propelled vehicle designed for use by only one person, with electrical assist(s) totaling less than .75 horsepower."

That definition includes some electric-motor-powered scooters that many young people in the valley like to ride.

Based on the equation for horsepower (33 pounds traveling 1,000 feet in 1 minute), a .75 horsepower engine would allow a 99-pound youngster to go about 3 to 4 mph, uphill.

Should one of those motorized vehicles cross the invisible line from Sun Valley into Blaine County, the operator would be in violation of county law that prohibits any device that transports a person by gas or electric motor on any recreational pathway within the county. Violation means a $100 fine.

Mary Austin Crofts, executive director of the Blaine County Recreation District, which oversees the Trails System, sees a problem with the city’s ordinance.

"Not everyone knows where they are on the pathways, since the signing, the trails, the benches are all the same. The Trails System is one cohesive system, and people will not necessarily know where the city of Sun Valley stops and starts," she said.

The Trails System overlays several government entities, and the Recreation District has a "joint powers agreement" with each entity, Crofts said.

The agreement does sets out "who does what," she said, on matters such as maintenance and enforcement.

The joint powers agreement between the district and Sun Valley does not give the district power to veto the new ordinance.

Crofts said she was disappointed with Sun Valley’s decision since the district’s intent for the trail system from its beginning has been that it operate under the same guidelines everywhere.

She said she thinks Sun Valley is testing the ordinance for a year and that signs might be erected to warn motorized vehicle users to go no farther.

Sun Valley City Administrator Dan Pincetich refuted both of these ideas.

He said the city promised to report on the effect of the ordinance in a year’s time, not giving it a one year trial. He added the city has no plans to put signs up.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.