The Prairie du Chien Common Council reviewed two public works issues regarding the use of electric and motorized scooters and bicycles during their June 16 meeting.

Alderman Jaaren Riebe said the Public Works Committee directed City staff to compose an ordinance prohibiting motorized scooter travel on walking and bicycling paths within the city.

Riebe added that safety concerns were a primary reason for the ordinance.

According to a preliminary ordinance given to the Council, motorized scooters are defined as "any device equipped with handlebars that is designed to be stood or sat upon by the operator and is powered in whole or in part by an electric or gasoline motor."

Walking and biking paths are defined as "any public trail, shared-use path, recreational path, sidewalk-adjacent path, riverfront path or other route designated by the City primarily for pedestrian or bicycle travel."

The ordinance includes exceptions for city maintenance or service vehicles, law enforcement and emergency services and mobility devices used by individuals with disabilities.

The penalty outlined in the proposed ordinance is a ticket between $25 and $250.

A complete ordinance is expected to come before the Council in July.

The Council did adopt an ordinance pertaining to the use of e-bicycles within the city. It applies to all electric bicycles operated on public thoroughfares in the city, including streets, alleys, sidewalks, and trails, among others.

The ordinance classifies e-bikes into three categories. Class 1 bikes are electric bicycles equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bike reaches 20 m.p.h. Class 2 e-bikes have the capability of being solely powered by the motor without pedaling up to 20 m.p.h. Class 3 bikes have a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling up to 28 m.p.h.

The ordinance includes rules and restrictions for riders, including suggested safety equipment, number of riders, right of way and parking.

The ordinance also prohibits the use of Class 3 e-bikes on city walking or bicycle paths without explicit permission from the City and restricts operators to age 16 and older.

Penalties defined in the ordinance are tickets between $25 and $250 for each offense.

Anyone interested in reviewing the ordinance can do so via the City's website (cityofpdc.com).

Air Race Classic

City Administrator Chad Abram requested Airport Manager Todd Berry speak to the Council about the recent events at the Prairie du Chien Municipal Airport and the Air Race Classic (ARC), which is taking place until this Friday.

The ARC is an all-women's cross-country competition. According to Berry, approximately 100 pilots in 45 aircraft will participate in this year's event. Prairie du Chien is the second-to-last stop on the route.

"It attracts pilots from all over the country and the world, including flight instructors, business owners, and aviation enthusiasts," said Berry.

The PdC airport expects planes to start coming through on Wednesday, with most of the competitors coming through by midday Friday.

Abram said the ARC wanted to include Prairie as a stop several years prior; however, the manager at the time chose not to participate. Berry added that the ARC went to Decorah, Iowa, that year instead.

Berry said Decorah wants to bring the race back to their airport. "It was that great for them. The city loved it."

The participants reportedly vote on the best stop during the race, and Berry wants Prairie to earn that distinction. "This gives us the opportunity to showcase our community, the city and the airport. It's a big asset to Prairie du Chien.

"If we do this right, they'll want to come back... My goal is to win the best stop and then, possibly, try to apply to be the first or last stop of the race in the future."

Berry said the city would have to pay $12,500 to be the first or last stop in the race. But it would bring in the pilots and other ARC staff to the community, where they would spend money on lodging and food.

"Each racer comes in to the start five days before the race begins," he said. "They're at hotels, at restaurants, traveling through the city — it's a great economic impact to the city."

Air(port) report

Berry also gave the Council updates on the airport's current slate of projects. He said there were five "on the books" at the time of the meeting.

"If you look out there, you [won't] see any accomplishment yet because we're working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)," he said.

The aforementioned projects include 

A building to store snow-removal equipment, which was supposed to be underway by now but has experienced delays.

"They said it would break ground by early spring, and that time has since past," said Berry. He added the city’s consultant “would be happy” for it to be finished by the end of the year.

A tractor for snow removal is expected to be built this month and be delivered in September.

The airport is working on the installation of a parallel taxiway for safety reasons.

"All of our runways have taxiway access except for one. Our pilots have to get on the runway and back taxi, which is really not a safe way to do it. It makes pilots — especially of corporate aircraft — nervous," said Berry.

He added that the taxiway is a high priority for the FAA. Construction is expected to begin next year.

Berry said the airport needs to create a master plan to do any FAA projects. "It's basically a 20-year study of what we plan on doing over the next two decades and what is planned for the airport."

The city has been working on crack sealing the runways and taxiways, but the FAA's assistance has been slow.

"The FAA has to have an engineer come in and get bids... We thought for sure it would be this year or next year at the latest to get those cracks filled, but now [the FAA] is telling us 2027 because we're in a pool of I don't know how many airports," said Riebe, who is on the Airport Commission. The City reportedly has a crew that could fill the cracks, but then the FAA would not contribute to the cost of the repairs.

In attendance were alderpersons Andy Ringgold, Kayla Ingham, Todd Crotty, Bob Granzow, Vicki Waller, Nick Crary, Nate Bremmer and Riebe. Mayor Mark Gillitzer, Abram, Teynor, Parks and Recreation Director Mike Wallace and City Planner Nate Gilberts were also present.

The next meeting is scheduled for July 7.

Other business

• Abram reported that the City meets with the WisDOT and construction team for the roundabouts project on Main Street on Thursday mornings.