The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — Golf cart owners came close on Thursday to getting permission to drive all across the island, but a majority of the city council decided to form a committee to study the issue first.

Only Councilwoman Susan Fennewald voted against forming the committee. She said she would rather make the carts legal than go to the trouble of forming another advisory panel.

The committee will make recommendations about where in the city golf carts should be allowed on the streets.

Under new regulations passed earlier this year by the state Legislature, golf carts no longer have to be registered if they are driven in master planned communities, within 2 miles of a golf course or on the beach.

But the new state law leaves it up to cities to decide whether to allow golf carts on other streets with speed limits set at 35 mph or less. Until the council passes an ordinance allowing golf carts on the streets, they are illegal, City Attorney Susie Green said.

All of the people who made comments about golf carts during Thursday’s meeting begged the council not to take away their eco-friendly transportation. Wearing small signs that said “Go green: Keep our golf carts legal,” proponents told the council they used the carts to travel to social functions, restaurants and stores in and around their neighborhoods.

They also told the council they wanted to be able to take the carts to the beach. But Texas General Land Office officials told the city repeatedly the carts are only allowed on beaches where other vehicles are permitted, Planning Director Wendy O’Donohoe said.

Although she offered to ask again, O’Donohoe said she doubted the response would be any different.

Under the state’s transportation code, golf carts are classified as vehicles, and no vehicles are allowed on pedestrian-only beaches.