E-bikes on open space Boulder County has scheduled several February e-bike demonstrations and open houses as it seeks comments about whether or where electric-powered bikes should be allowed on county parks and open space trails Feb. 6: E-bike demonstrations are set for 4 to 5 p.m. at the Stazio Ballfields south parking lot, 2445 Stazio Drive, Boulder, followed by a 5 to 6:30 p.m. open house at the Boulder County Recycling Center, 1901 63rd St., Boulder Feb. 10: E-bike demonstrations are set for 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Goodhue Farmhouse, 2005 S. 112th St., Broomfield, followed by a 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. open house at the Goodhue Farmhouse Feb. 13: E-bike demonstrations are set for 4 to 5 p.m. at the Lagerman Agricultural Preserve, 12900 Pike Road, Longmont, followed by an open house at the Ron Stewart Parks and Open Space Building, 5201 St. Vrain Road, Longmont Online comments: More information and a link people can use to submit comments online are available at BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org/ebike

Boulder County is seeking comments about whether electrical-powered bicycles should be allowed on bike trails in the county’s parks and open space areas.

The county considers electrical-assisted bicycles to be “motorized vehicles,” and prohibits riding them on any of its trails except where they are specifically designated as being permitted.

Boulder County now only allows e-bikes on a short section of the U.S. 36 bikeway that jogs through the county’s Scriffiny Open Space property northwest of South 88th Street and U.S. 36, south of Louisville — an exception the county’s Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee approved in February 2017.

“We’re seeing some e-bikes on some other Boulder County trails now despite the long-standing prohibition against them, but we’re not seeing a lot,” said Tina Nielsen, the Parks and Open Space Department’s special projects manager.

However, because of the growing popularity of e-bikes, Boulder County’s staff has started considering what county trails might be “desirable and suitable for e-bikes,” Nielsen said.

On Dec. 21, the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee voted its support of a set of updates to the county’s rules and regulations about the use of county open space, including one that — if approved by the Board of County Commissioners — would specify that “gas- and electric-assisted bicycles are prohibited within any County Parks and Open Space area except where such use is specifically designated.”

Nielsen said that after a news story appeared about those regulatory updates, the county heard from a number of people accusing it of imposing a new ban on electric bikes. She said that there actually was one in place already.

The county has scheduled a set of February open houses to get comments about whether people would favor allowing e-bikes on county open space lands, and which particular trails where people might be interested in — or concerned about — permitting them.

The county staff said the comments it gets at those open houses, as well as through an online comment form, will help shape recommendations about whether or where to allow certain kinds of e-bikes.

“We’re simply listening” at this point, Nielsen said, to “get the lay of the land and understand people’s perceptions” about potential e-bike use.

Gary Sprung, of the Community Cycles Advocacy Committee, wrote the Boulder County commissioners on Wednesday that a policy of completely banning e-bikes from county trails “would contradict an important county goal, the promotion of transportation options, by preventing any use of e-bikes on the LoBo, Rock Creek and Boulder Canyon trails and other valuable transportation routes.”

Sprung wrote that Community Cycles is taking no formal position on the suitability of e-bikes on trails used primarily for recreation.

“Clearly, the trails at Betasso and Walker Ranch do not create transportation options” to driving, Sprung said.

He said that while the Longmont-to-Boulder LoBo and Rock Creek trails “may often be used for recreation, their transportation value is clear and will increase with time.”

The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance does not have an official position, for now, said Jason Vogel, a member of the Mountainbike Alliance’s advocacy committee.

He said that organization may discuss the issues involved during a retreat in February.

“E-bikes are so new to the scene there is no real consensus at this point about where it’s appropriate” to allow them on county parks and open space lands, including recreational single-track trails through some of those areas, or on the county’s regional trails, Vogel said in an interview.

The county staff has reported that under a Colorado law that took effect last August, certain categories of e-bikes — Class 1 e-bikes that provide electrical pedal assistance at speeds up to 20 mph, and Class 2 e-bikes that provide electrical power whether the rider is pedaling or not and stops giving power when the bike reaches 20 mph in speed — are allowed to be ridden on bike, pedestrian or multi-use paths unless prohibited by the local government.

Under that state law, Class 3 e-bikes provide electrical power at speeds up to 28 mph and can only be ridden on paths that are within public streets or highways and only by riders age 16 or older.

Nielsen is to brief the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee on what the staff is calling Boulder County’s “E-Bikes Public Engagement Plan” during that panel’s 6:30 p.m. Thursday meeting on the third floor of the Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder.

John Fryar: 303-684-5211, jfryar@times-call.com or twitter.com/jfryartc