Westfield Mayor Scott Willis continued his pitch to residents about the potential to turn Westfield into a golf cart community during a town hall meeting Sept. 12 at Westfield Washington Public Library.
Willis first introduced his plan to make much of the city’s trail system open to golf carts in June.
“It is my vision that we create a golf cart-friendly community. Why? Quite frankly, it’s fun,” Willis said during this month’s town hall meeting. “It also takes cars off our roads; reduces pollution; reduces construction costs on our roads. It’s a good way to allow unique types of transportation in our community.”
Willis said his goal is to link all the city’s neighborhoods into a system in some way.
“We’re not going to allow golf carts on every trail in Westfield — just areas where it makes sense,” he said. “We’re going through this process right now to evaluate it and make sure we’re being very thoughtful in what we do.”
Willis said that while there are trail gaps, the city will not try to force landowners to allow trail connections through their properties. The city will purchase portions of properties if the landowners wish to sell them.
“I’m not going to be taking people’s land,” he said. “Some people don’t like that. They want the trail now. I just don’t think the government should take the front yards of people for a trail system.”
Willis said as the ordinance amendment is slowly coming together, his focus is enforcement, particularly when it comes to underage drivers. Golf carts have been allowed on some trails in Westfield for the past decade, but only for licensed drivers 16 and older. The mayor said it’s been safe thus far but recognized that underage kids have been known to get behind the wheel.
“We need parents to hold their kids more accountable,” Willis said. “We are going to develop an ordinance around golf cart usage that’s going to be very painful for you if you violate it. We’re going to get a little bit aggressive with it because this won’t work if we have young kids (driving) golf carts and getting themselves hurt or getting other people hurt. That’s a nonstarter to me.”
Representatives from the administration and the Westfield Police Department will travel to Peach Tree City, Ga., in November — where golf carts are allowed on most municipal roads — to speak with local leaders on the pros and cons of a golf cart community.
Starting in early 2025, city leaders will go on a listening tour to gauge public opinion on the proposal, including a town hall-style meeting focused only on golf carts.
“If you don’t like (golf carts), that certainly will be the time to come,” Willis said. “If you have concerns or there are things you like about it, we want to learn and absorb that and then we’ll come back together and decide, do we want to go ahead and introduce a new ordinance.”
An ordinance is expected to be ready for review in spring 2025. The final decision to allow golf carts throughout the city will be made by the Westfield City Council.
