Updated at 5:15 p.m. with a cease and desist letter from city of Reno

Lime responded to Reno's cease and desist, learn more in an updated story

Lime, the company that deployed green rental bikes around town, expanded its business with 100 motorized scooters dropped into Midtown today, in a move that drew condemnation from the cities of Reno and Sparks.

On top of that, the University of Nevada, Reno campus became a no-Lime zone, and Lime threatened to pull out of Northern Nevada if any government entities try to stop it from deploying scooters.

"I am quite dismayed about this development," Reno City Manager Sabra Newby wrote in an email to city of Reno staff and council members.

Newby found out Lime deployed new scooters in Reno when she read an email from Lime's director of strategic development Gabriel Scheer and an RGJ article on Tuesday morning.

"We will be evaluating our options with respect to this service today," Newby wrote to staff.

The city of Reno sent a cease and desist letter to Lime at the end of Tuesday.

"We must now unfortunately explore all options to keep our citizens safe, and continue to keep every business accountable if they violate the law," according to a statement from the city of Reno. "A cease and desist letter was sent to Lime earlier today demanding that deployment and operations of electric scooters end immediately."

Sparks City Manager Steve Driscoll was also displeased with the scooter launch and said the 10 p.m. Monday email from Scheer was inadequate notice.

“We’re not feeling like (Lime) is being a very good partner here," he told the RGJ.

In a Reno City Council meeting on Sept. 12, Scheer promoted the idea of expanding their bike service to include motorized scooters that can go 15 mph. Scheer also outlined a safety campaign for educating riders on proper riding, parking and helmet usage.

"City council did not give Lime Scooters the go-ahead," Reno City Council member Neoma Jardon told the RGJ. "We asked them to come back to a future council meeting to discuss many issues including, but not limited to, safety, location of scooters, number of scooters, ordinances defining where and where not to ride and the need for an outreach campaign to educate the public on all of the above."

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The same presentation and conversation played out at a Sparks City Council meeting on Sept. 10.

"They were supposed to provide us with additional info for how to make the product safer," Driscoll said. "And they didn’t answer. ... In our opinion there’s no reason for the scooter to go that fast."

Currently, no local ordinances or state laws govern stand-up electric scooters. Both Reno, Sparks and UNR instead defined Lime Scooters as mopeds, which require DMV registration. Sparks and UNR banned the scooters until the Nevada DMV says otherwise.

"Our contract with Lime requires them to demonstrate that the scooters comply with local and state regulations," said Kerri Garcia, UNR's director of communications. "To date, they have not been able to satisfactorily demonstrate compliance with state law, therefore the university is unable to allow the scooters on campus."

UNR and Sparks Marina are now marked as no parking zones in the Lime app. By late Tuesday, all Lime Bikes and Lime Scooters disappeared from campus.

Scheer challenged the moped interpretation in a Sept. 17 letter to Reno, Sparks, Washoe County, UNR and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. The letter breaks down the difference between Lime Scooters and mopeds, concluding that no laws adequately apply and that the local governments and Lime should work to create new ones.

It goes on to say that the original agreement between the local jurisdictions and Lime allows scooters to be launched on Sept. 18 without additional permission and "with legal certainty that our scooters are, in fact, not mopeds."

"They don’t get to make that choice," Driscoll said of the letter. "We as a government entity decide what the law is. They have to conform with our interpretation until they can show us differently. They don’t get to make an arbitrary decision to do what they damn well please."

Sparks asked Lime to provided an opinion from the Nevada DMV before moving forward, Driscoll said. Lime did not provide that before deploying the scooters, which could be ridden from Reno to Sparks.

A DMV spokesperson told the RGJ that the scooters are not classified as mopeds.

“Because of the speed and design they are considered an electric bicycle," Alex Smith said.

Electric bicycles do not require DMV registration and must follow all bicycle and pedestrian laws in Nevada, according to a statement from the DMV.

Scheer's letter also adds that Lime could leave Northern Nevada if they are not allowed to put scooters on the street -- even though they already did.

"We have reached a point where, as a company, we face a choice: focus our efforts on more sustainable programs in other communities or make an investment in expanding our fleet selection in the Reno area," Scheer wrote.

The Lime fleet includes 500 bicycles and 100 scooters so far, according to Lime's quarterly report.

The letter tells the government agencies that closing Lime in Reno-Sparks would eliminate 30 jobs and remove hundreds of "unsubsidized" bikes and scooters from the region.

"We are confident that launching scooters will enable us to forgo making the choice to close our operations in Reno," the letter continues.

Mike Higdon is the city life reporter at the RGJ and can be found on Instagram @MillennialMike, on Facebook at Mike Higdon, Reno Life and on Twitter @MikeHigdon.