Chilmark selectmen voted to support a home rule petition banning moped rentals in the town of Oak Bluffs.
Last month, the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government met to hear testimony about House bill 1783, Oak Bluffs’ home rule petition to further regulate moped rentals.
If approved by the state legislature, the bill would allow Oak Bluffs residents to vote at annual town meeting on whether or not to ban moped rentals. If the bill receives a favorable review from the committee, it would have to go through two more House committees, and three more Senate committees, before it is taken to the floor for a vote.
At Monday’s meeting, selectmen voiced their support of the bill. “Certainly, we are very supportive of this,” selectman Warren Doty said. “It’s a very good plan. It almost happened two years ago, and we’d really like to see it go through.”
Doty referred to the original bill, which ultimately failed to get a vote during the legislature’s last session of 2018.
Selectman Bill Rossi agreed, and the motion to draft a letter in support was passed 2-0. Selectman Jim Malkin was not present at the meeting.
In their December letter to the committee, Oak Bluffs selectmen expressed their concern about mopeds, and support for the bill to be passed.
“Here on Martha’s Vineyard, the rental of scooters has become a serious public safety problem for both local residents and unsuspecting tourists who are routinely sent out into traffic at an alarming rate, with no real appreciation of the potential hazards that await them,” the letter reads. “These vehicles are a complete hazard, and even the first instance of driver inattention or inability to react quickly can and often does result in death and dismemberment.”
At that hearing in Boston last month, Mike Tierney and John Leone, representing Oak Bluffs rental companies King of Rentals of MV, Ride-On Mopeds, and Island Hoppers, opposed the bill, saying it would put them out of business on the Island.
