Santa Clarita’s chief executive said the city plans to deal with new e-bike and e-motorcycle complaints after the City Council comes back from summer break, following another round of concerns shared with City Hall.
Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Striplin said the city needed more time to study and develop an “accountability measure” to help with local enforcement.
At a City Council meeting last month, Striplin took umbrage at public commenters who said the city isn’t doing enough, calling unfavorable comparisons to Huntington Beach off-base because that city had “far greater problems” than Santa Clarita.
But Santa Clarita has had its share of issues with motorized bikes, which have included a 17-year-old boy who died in a 2023 e-bike collision; a 14-year-old boy who died last year in a head-on collision riding a non-street-legal “dirt bike motorcycle”; and, a sheriff’s deputy assault last month, which happened while he was conducting e-bike enforcement.
A lawsuit was filed last month over an e-bike collision that included signage complaints. Another commenter at Tuesday’s council meeting mentioned an e-bike collision that left an elderly woman with broken ribs.
Striplin and the council have heard from residents for more than a year about a spectrum of e-bike concerns, according to records provided in response to a Public Records Act request from The Signal.
But Striplin has said several times now that city staffers need more study before something can be brought back to the council.
Residents have pointed out that other cities, such as Huntington Beach and Tustin have passed measures, so why doesn’t Santa Clarita?
Coastal perspective
Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon said he was shocked when he first met with his city’s top cop after his election in 2022.
“I sat down with our chief of police and asked him what the biggest issue was back then. I assumed it was gonna be homelessness, and he’s like, ‘No, it’s actually e-bikes.’
“And since then, we just really focused on it, and obviously, it’s proliferated pretty substantially, outside of just coastal towns; so, we’ve just worked with our police department hand in hand, and thought, ‘What can we do?’”
They focused on local solutions, he said. Broader licensing requirements, for example, would have required DMV participation because many of the beach communities see big tourism numbers.
“We were really proactive with all our school districts, so as of basically two summers ago, every single school district in Huntington Beach, we got them to require a safety class,” he said, “and then for the students to pass in order to get a registration sticker to bring their bike on campus, so it was very successful. And then we were doing, I think, it’s about once every couple months, we do like a safety class where parents come out with their kids, and we do like safety courses with the police department, which is really great, because a lot of parents don’t realize how fast those bikes go.”
In Huntington Beach, the new rules prohibit riding on the sidewalk in a business district adjacent to schools, churches, recreational centers or playgrounds. They set a maximum speed of 10 mph in city parks, 5 mph when pedestrians are present. On beach bicycle and pedestrian paths, the speed limit is 10 mph, or 5 mph when pedestrians are present.
Tustin’s newest rules, which began enforcement two weeks ago, spelled out 20 ways that e-bike riding is now against the law, including operations: at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour on a sidewalk, park, or other area generally open to public pedestrian access other than a bicycle path or shared use trail; operating with more than two bicycles or regulated mobility devices side -by -side; or lifting one or more wheels into the air.
Local comments
Keith Lobert, a Santa Clarita resident, has become known for taking props to City Hall for public comments on e-bikes to Santa Clarita City Council — one such meeting included a record with a Band-Aid on it, because he felt like a broken record with his complaints, for example.
He brought a 20-inch circumference, 4-inch-wide e-bike tire, pointing out that he’s seen elementary-school children riding such a vehicle. It’s the same size tire that a full-size sedan might use as a spare, he said, offering to pass the tire around to council members.
“The laws have to catch up,” Lobert said, in lobbying for an age limit of 16 for riders on some of the faster e-bikes.
Several residents mentioned laws in places as far away as New Jersey and even Australia in calling on the council to act.
While Striplin has said multiple times that city staff are researching solutions to bring a greater “accountability portion” to law enforcement’s local efforts, he has received lots of feedback from the public and council members who hear regularly from constituents.
During the May 26 City Council meeting, Councilwoman Marsha McLean suggested the incorporation of a neighborhood watch, in response to numerous comments that there just isn’t enough manpower at the SCV Sheriff’s Station to provide the level of monitoring some would like to see over dozens of miles of trails.
“We will definitely look at how to bring the community in to help solve the problem,” Striplin said, “but it’s not something the city’s going to solve. That being said, I would just remind the council, that this is going to be an agendized item, and so we really can’t get into discussion about what those (solutions) are going to be,” he said. “I’ve heard direction. I hear what you’re saying. That will be included in the session as we move forward.”
On Tuesday, Mayor Pro Tem Patsy Ayala had additional feedback, after hosting a meeting with the Valencia law firm of Young & Chic LLP to “brainstorm” solutions.
Mentioning another violent e-bike collision that left an elderly woman with broken ribs, Ayala said she had concerns. She called for a local e-bike safety and management ordinance, to “protect and educate our youth.”
Some of her suggestions were similar to what’s been proposed already in some of the beach communities.
Mayor Laurene Weste followed up by saying she anticipates “lots of discussion” on what the state does and does not allow the city to do, when the item comes back for discussion.
City staff position
Carrie Lujan, communications manager for Santa Clarita, said “the city has been proactively addressing e-bike safety for several years through a combination of education, outreach and enforcement,” in a text message, with efforts that include “articles, social media campaigns, community signage and in-person meetings with schools, PTAs and HOAs to educate residents on safe and responsible e-bike use,” as well as Sheriff’s Department outreach.
“As the next step, the city is evaluating additional options to create greater accountability and enhance public safety,” she added. “Staff will present potential options for City Council consideration in the coming months.”
Lujan did not give a reason behind the wait, but Striplin said last month that he wanted to make it clear to the City Council that the issue was a priority.
He said he couldn’t understand how residents “could leave thinking that the council or my comments didn’t raise this as an issue that was very important, and an issue that we’ve all been dealing with for quite a while,” during the May meeting.
“Just because residents come to a council meeting and bring up an issue doesn’t allow the council to then engage in a large conversation about that issue and give direction on what to do,” Striplin said last month. “The Brown Act requires the City Council to agendize such an item and have a discussion after the research has been done. Things have been put in front of the council, so that you have the opportunity to make educated decisions.”
Striplin also pointed out that Santa Clarita is a general law city, meaning that without a charter for its own laws and police department, it was bound by California law.
