At its Monday night meeting, the Solvang City Council unanimously approved a license for Adventures Out West, a company that also runs outdoor excursions in Colorado and Arizona, to use city streets for Segway tours.
The proposed tours were originally brought before the council at its Nov. 14 meeting. Since then, the tour routes were revised to exclude any private streets and the council voted 5-0 to approve a one-year license.
“The city’s happy with it and we’re happy with it,” Chris Cyr, one of the company’s co-owners, said of the lease following the council meeting. “It’s going to be a great tour for everybody.”
The council members and representatives of local businesses voiced concerns regarding the tours, however. Councilman Hans Duus wanted to make sure the tours don’t add to the congestion on Atterdag Street, especially during the peak hours surrounding the schedule at Solvang Elementary School. Claudia Orona, whose family owns and operates Solvang Trolley and Carriage Company, brought up fears of the Segways and/or people on them possibly spooking the horses that pull the carriage tours.
While noting that she was “thrilled with Segway tours bringing in more tourism,” Orona wanted to make sure that the Segway tours and carriage tours don’t cross paths, and that if they do, the Solvang Trolley and Carriage Company isn’t held liable in the event of an accident.
Mayor Jim Richardson recommended the two companies get together to hash out those details, while Cyr eased some of those concerns by pointing out that the Segway tours will be guided, not free-for-alls, and the Segway itself would fall over quickly in the event of an accident and not continue without its operator. The minimum age for an operator with the tours will be 14.
Cyr and others have been riding around the city on the two-wheeled electric scooters, which use gyro stabilization and computer control to remain upright and can reach speeds up to 13 mph, for the past several weeks. He said the reaction he and other Segway travelers have received from the public has been mostly positive.
“It’s something new and different and people are excited,” Cyr told the council, noting that there has been a small segment of locals who have opposed the scooters’ use.
Bob McCarthy, who plans to invest in the company now that it is licensed, said he has also seen a favorable reaction from people who have spotted the Segways around town.
“I was at the Christmas parade (Dec. 3) and people on the floats were shouting, ‘Segway! Segway!’” McCarthy said after the meeting. “It was wonderful. I think it brings a little young blood into town and a little more activity.”
Regarding those who may not want to see the tours in town, councilman Ken Palmer brought up the fact that they are approved for just a one-year lease and that, if problems do arise, the issues can be addressed when the lease is up and pending renewal. “I’m willing to give it a try,” Palmer said. “We certainly need the tourism.”
Richardson echoed a similar sentiment. “I think it’s another opportunity to bring people to Solvang,” he said.
While the Segway approval took up a large chunk of Monday’s meeting, in which the council members were decked in holiday-themed headwear, the council also held a second reading and unanimously approved an ordinance setting connection fees for new customers of the city’s water and wastewater systems. The connection fees are separate from the council’s decision at its Nov. 28 meeting to raise monthly meter charges for water customers. Also Monday, Duus was selected as Mayor Pro Tem by the council for 2012 after Palmer declined the position. As Pro Tem, Duus will serve as mayor in the absence of Richardson.