Fruitland Park commissioners voted to table a controversial amendment to the city’s golf cart ordinance Thursday night – but not before all four commissioners present and a business owner weighed in with divided opinions.
At the center of the controversy is a plan to prohibit golf carts from driving on Dixie Avenue, largely considered the main thoroughfare through the city.
Currently, golf cart drivers are welcome to travel on Dixie Avenue and oftentimes access the Kangaroo Express mini-mart on County Road 466A through a side entrance off Dixie. Post office customers also frequently use the same route before parking at the Kangaroo and walking to the building next door.
District 5 Commissioner Chris Bell asked his fellow commissioners to hold off on voting on the amended ordinance because Vice Mayor John Gunter, who represents District 4, was absent. Both commissioners represent constituents who live along Dixie Avenue and would be directly impacted by the change.
“That would be their only way out with a golf cart because they live right along there,” Bell said.
Mayor Chris Cheshire, who represents District 3, said he has mixed feelings about the ordinance change. He said he’s a huge believer in personal freedoms but definitely has safety concerns about the risks golf carts face on the heavily traveled roadway.
“I understand that,” Bell shot back. “But I would throw out that I don’t believe there’s been a single incident with golf carts in five years.”
District 1 Commissioner Rick Ranize made no secrets about his feelings.
“If I take a vehicle and drive down Dixie at 15 mph, am I impeding the flow of traffic?” he asked. “That’s what these golf carts are doing. We’re putting them on a street that’s marked 30 mph and they drive 15, 17 mph, impeding the flow of traffic.”
Ranize said he shutters to think what could happen to golf cart users involved in crashes on Dixie Avenue.
“Somebody’s going to get hurt or somebody’s going to get killed,” he said. “It’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen. I just don’t think they should be there.”
District 2 Commissioner Ray Lewis agreed.
“I just see the volume as it has changed and continues to change,” he said. “I’m OK with them being used in the city, the various streets and neighborhoods, but Dixie is highly congested and not conducive to golf cart traffic.”
Brian Gillette, owner of Southern Cart Works at 209 N. Dixie Ave., said eliminating golf cart traffic on Dixie Avenue definitely would be detrimental to his business and others in the area.
“If a customer is coming to have me work on their cart, they’ve got to come down Dixie to get to me,” he said. “People aren’t going to want to buy golf carts if they can’t get to me to get them repaired. So it will hurt my business and it’s not fair.”
Gillette, a former Villager who said he moved to Fruitland Park “to be able to vote and have a word,” added that commissioners need to think hard about how this decision could impact those who live along Dixie Avenue.
“How are they supposed to be able to get out on Dixie to get onto a back street?” he asked.
Gillette said commissioners also need to remember how widely used golf carts are in the city.
“People go to church and swimming pools,” he said. “Parents take their kids to school in golf carts.”
While Gillette said he’ll admit golf cart traffic isn’t 100 percent safe on Dixie Avenue, he said he’d like to see the commissioners focusing on different aspects.
“What I would ask is let’s make sure those people have insurance, just like an automobile,” he said. “Let’s make sure they have seat belts, like an automobile. And you have to wear them or you get a ticket.”
Regardless of the outcome of the amended ordinance, golf carts still will be prohibited from traveling on county roads 468 and 466A, except at controlled intersections that are clearly marked. If golf cart traffic on Dixie Avenue is prohibited, commissioners agreed that they’ll need to come up with several options for those who want to cross the roadway to access other parts of the city.
