New rules on drones, e-bikes, dogs on Boulder County open space win early endorsement

From the Boulder Daily Camera

Niight Wind, of Longmont, goes for a trail run Thursday at Rabbit Mountain Open Space. (Lewis Geyer/Staff Photographer )

Boulder County would ban electric bikes from most of the county’s Parks and Open Space trails, under a new staff-recommended rule endorsed by a county advisory panel.

Operators of unmanned aircraft systems could be ticketed if they harass wildlife, livestock or humans by flying drones over county-owned or county-managed Parks and Open Space areas — including lands the county leases to tenant farmers — under another regulation getting the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee’s support.

Boulder County would explicitly require dog owners to pick up and dispose of their dogs’ feces when they’re visiting county Parks and Open space areas. And an existing prohibition against smoking on county Parks and Open Space properties would be revised to include a ban on the use of electronic smoking devices, under other rules changes the advisory committee approved Thursday.

The new, revised and updated rules proposals will next be considered by the Board of County Commissioners, with a public hearing and commissioners’ decision expected to be scheduled for sometime in January.

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