Shelbyville Common Council approves ordinances on golf cart use, heavy trash collection

Golf carts are now an allowable means of transportation on most Shelbyville streets.

The Shelbyville Common Council approved on second reading Monday a new ordinance that has several restrictions for the mode of transportation.

A permit, a paid registration fee and valid driver’s license must be on file with the City of Shelbyville for golf cart use.

Golf carts are not allowed on sidewalks and walking paths; any private property without proper consent; parks department properties except where traffic is designated; State Road 9 (Harrison St.) except to cross the roadway; State Road 44 (Broadway St.) from Harrison east to the city limits; railroad tracks; and rights of way.

Golf carts are not permitted to operate on any public streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. And they cannot be operated at a speed greater than 20 miles per hour.

“Most of our neighbors, Greenfield and Franklin, progressive cities all have and allow golf carts to be on their streets,” explained Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson following the council meeting Monday at City Hall. “It is another mode of transportation. It is a great opportunity for people that live in the neighborhoods to be downtown and not struggle for parking. It’s a smaller mode of transportation. It’s just a different avenue of people having fun.”

The council also approved on second reading a new ordinance that places restrictions on the amount of material being placed curbside during heavy trash collection week.

The new ordinance limits individual bags of trash to 40 pounds. And the total square footage of garbage shall not exceed eight feet in height, four feet in depth and 10 feet in length for a total of 320 square feet. Any excess must be disposed of by the property owner and/or occupant.

In years past, the City of Shelbyville offered two heavy trash collection weeks but costs and manpower made that difficult to maintain. The city now offers one heavy trash collection per year – this year’s will be from April 7-11.

“We are trying to never get to the point where we charge for trash pickup,” said Furgeson, who is working with the solid waste district to cover costs for recycling collection to avoid charging residents a fee. “It’s a free service (trash collection) but we added another 120 houses last year and another 120 before then. It’s getting to a breaking point. How do we do everything we are doing at no cost?”

Furgeson reiterated his goal is not to charge residents for trash collection.

“We are constantly working on that,” he said.

Returning to two heavy trash collection weeks would be very difficult now because of the manpower it takes to complete the job.

“It’s a manpower issue at this point in time because we’ve added so many houses in the last three years,” said Furgeson.

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