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Scooter companies will have to provide money and data to operate in Hburg. Meanwhile, HEC appointment saga isn’t over yet.

First meeting for Harrisonburg's City Council for the new year on Jan. 8, 2019.

By Randi B. Hagi, contributor

The Harrisonburg City Council once again postponed completing its appointments to the Harrisonburg Electric Commission by filling only one of two spots at Tuesday’s meeting, but it did unanimously approve a one-year pilot program to regulate sharable scooters and bikes.

City Attorney Chris Brown presented the one-year “pilot project” for the permitting of Bird and Lime-S electric scooters that have flooded the city since last fall. The council unanimously passed the Memorandum of Understanding outlining what the companies would have to do in order to do business in Harrisonburg with their “Shared Mobility Devices,” which also would include sharable bikes.

Brown said ordinances outlined in the council’s December meeting “went a long way towards addressing” problems with the scooters being abandoned, crowding sidewalks and causing some safety issues. But he said the one-year trial for a permit process will establish clear responsibilities for the scooter companies and aim to strike a balance between encouraging entrepreneurship and transportation options, and preventing the vehicles from being a nuisance.

Those responsibilities include:

One company has expressed interest in adding electric bicycles to their Harrisonburg fleet. Between bikes and scooters, their total number still cannot exceed 100 vehicles until that four rides per day threshold is met.

Mayor Deanna Reed said she has seen the bicycles in Charlottesville.

“They’re nice though, I might even get on one!” she said with a smile.

Brown said his staff studied more than 15 other localities, most of them in Virginia, to ensure that Harrisonburg’s rules are comparable.

“Ultimately, if things are not going well, the city can pull the plug with 10 days’ notice,” Brown said.

The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition contacted members of the city council by email to express concerns about the permit requirements being too strict, including the fleet size and rides per day.

The coalition also asked that “the process of crafting this policy be more transparent and incorporate public input in the future.”

In the meeting, Brown said once the city has more data about how the scooters are being used, they would appreciate public input.

More appointment football

The Harrisonburg Electric Commission, which has been trying to fill two seats on it’s five-member board since the end of last year, will get one new member after the council appointed Maria Papadakis to one of the spots. Papadakis teaches in JMU’s Integrated Science and Technology Program with an expertise in energy management.

Papadakis said on her application that her :expertise also includes the economics of renewable energy, grid management and regulation, and the emerging approaches to community resilience in electric power infrastructure.”

The council selected her from a slate of three names the HEC sent at the commission’s January meeting. But the council declined to pick a name from the other slate to fill the second position, which has been held by David Frackelton.

Frackelton, who operates an energy consulting firm and is seeking reappointment to the commission, has drawn criticism from environmental activists for social media posts regarding climate change. The nomination for his seat on the HEC board has been delayed since December. Frackelton told The Citizen last month he believes climate change is occurring but is skeptical about how much “difference” humans can make on global climate.

Instead of selecting Frackelton or either of the other two names on that slate, council member Chris Jones voiced his support for Chris Weaver, of Lantz Construction Co., who was one of the applicants on the same slate as Papadakis, to replace Frackelton.

Jones said Weaver’s “business acumen and the relationships Mr. Weaver has in the community” would meet HEC’s priority of including a particularly business-savvy commissioner, while “still giving us fresh perspective there.”

The council voted unanimously to appoint Papadakis and requested that HEC revise the other slate to include Weaver.

“Or we’ll just keep punting,” Jones said, referring to the back-and-forth the council has had with the commission over the appointments. “I like football.”

Also at the meeting:

Note: This article has been updated to clarify how the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition contacted members of council about the proposed scooter permits.


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