Palmyra Borough discusses dangerous e-bikes, police chief requests resident help

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The dangerous use of electric bicycles – and the means of enforcing safety by police – dominated a conversation by Palmyra Borough Council at the Aug. 12 meeting.

Council members decided not to move forward on an ordinance regulating e-bikes after Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department Chief Andrew Winters suggested increased enforcement rather than additional legislation.

Councilor Marcus Riddell explained the proposed ordinance that was up for discussion on the agenda.

“We’ve had the bicycle regulation, and I think we should add this part into it so we can at least keep track of them,” Riddell said.

Winters said the department can already write tickets for manual bicycles and electric bicycles if they break the law, and this ordinance is just a matter of whether the borough wants to register the vehicles.

He said the existing ordinance hasn’t been enforced much over the past 25 years because most police interactions would be with children.

“Traffic stops on kids on bikes is really what you’re asking me to do,” Winters said. “If that’s what you want, we can stop kids on bikes for traffic stops, but that’s what you’re doing.”

He said this enforcement could be done without council’s action.

Council president Beth Shearer agreed that they should start focusing on enforcing existing ordinances.

Winters said cracking down on unsafe e-bike usage will require community participation. If residents see dangerous behavior, he recommended they call the police department and provide a brief description of the bike, its rider, and the time and place the incident took place.

If the department finds patterns in the places or times the events happen, they can scale up enforcement to target these individuals.

“Wherever the pockets are, we can adjust to go to the pocket and take care of that problem,” Winters said.

In other business, council:

• Approved road closures necessary for the Palmyra High School Homecoming Parade on Oct. 2, with a rain date of Oct. 6, from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. The route will begin in front of Palmyra Middle School on West Cherry Street, head east on East Cherry, turn right onto South Lincoln Street, right again onto East Oak Street, turn left onto South Railroad Street, turn right onto West Walnut, turn south onto South Locust, and end behind the middle school.
• Voted to reduce financial security for the East Ridge Road, Melrose Phase #1 Land Development Plan from $259,352.57 to $193,470.27. Council members have heard complaints for months from nearby residents who claim the developers are not properly handling stormwater. However, borough manager Roger Powl said the borough cannot keep financial security money as developers continue working. He said the borough keeps a bond to take care of these issues if they aren’t done.

Palmyra Borough Council will meet next at 325 S. Railroad St. on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. Meetings are streamed on the Palmyra Borough, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania YouTube page.