Wildwood’s city commission adopted an ordinance stipulating where golf carts and low-speed vehicles can be legally driven on city streets.
The 4-1 vote came at the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting on Monday morning at City Hall, located at 100 N Main St., Wildwood. Commissioner Joe Elliott opposed the measure due to some of the language in the ordinance regarding the possession of a driver’s license and requested that the ordinance be modified to prohibit people who have lost their license from operating a golf cart.
The new ordinance No. O2026-28 supersedes one adopted in 2013 and updated in 2017. It
amends and replaces the following sections of Chapter 12 in Wildwood’s Code of Ordinances:
- Sec. 12-151. – Low-speed vehicles
- Sec. 12-152. – Definition of a golf cart
- Sec. 12-153. – Golf cart communities
- Sec. 12-154. – Authorization to operate golf carts within and between golf cart communities
- Sec. 12-155. – Operation of golf carts on public city roads
“We need to ensure consistency with current state law, align with partner agencies and jurisdictions, and meet the evolving needs of our community,” City Manager Jason McHugh said. “Wildwood has grown tremendously in the last 13 years since we first addressed these types of vehicles in our code. Golf carts and low-speed vehicles have become vehicles of choice for many and an essential mode of transportation in parts of our city.”
To supplement the ordinance, the city has published an online, interactive street map showing where golf carts may operate. Users can search by road name and view links to county ordinances and state statutes that determine where golf carts can be driven. The symbology was designed to be straightforward, such as green roads meaning a cart can be driven, and red roads meaning it cannot.
Signs have also been installed on city roads to help alert the public where golf carts cannot cross or continue traveling due to jurisdictional boundaries or other factors. In addition, Wildwood’s police department will offer free golf cart safety classes and operate a new voluntary golf cart registry.
The street map can be viewed at wildwood-fl.gov/building. For more information about the safety classes and the registry, call 352-330-1355.