ITEM TITLE:
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#21-13 - Amending Chapter 10.16 Related to Snowmobiles. First Reading. Public Hearing.
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SUBMITTED BY: Bart Hinkle, Chief of Police
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
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First Reading.
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SUMMARY STATEMENT:
BACKGROUND:
On October 14, 2021 the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska filed a regulation that is to go into effect on January 1, 2022. The regulation outlines three pages of changes to existing regulations dealing with ATVs and snowmobiles. Most notably, a section of Alaska Administrative Code (13 AAC 02.325) is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
(g) No person may drive an all-purpose vehicle on any public roadway where the designated maximum speed is greater than 45 miles per hour.
Prior to January 1, 2022 these types of vehicles were prohibited on State roadways, as were snowmobiles.
The State of Alaska empowered communities to either adopt the newly enacted regulation in full, to opt out, or to modify it, by amending another section of Alaska Administrative Code (13 AAC 02.482) to read:
(c) No driver of an all-purpose vehicle may travel on a public roadway where that travel is prohibited by a local law or ordinance...
In addition to the prohibition of all-purpose or snowmobile traffic on State roadways, many Alaskan communities (particularly those on the established road system) also prohibit the use of those types of vehicles on City streets.
Valdez currently allows the operation of snowmobiles on City streets, as regulated by Valdez Municipal Code 10.16.010.
DETAILS:
The City of Valdez has an established history of allowing all-purpose vehicles and snowmobiles on their City streets, whether it be to commute to work, run errands, or to access any number of nearby trails. Fully adopting the newly enacted State regulation would increase the roadways that all-purpose vehicles could legally navigate. (Snowmobiles are still prohibite...
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