In 2015, Mary Ann Bonnell and her Jeffco Open Space team thought to bring an unusual presentation to an annual conference of local land managers around Colorado. Bonnell would speak on electric bikes, or e-bikes as they were becoming known.
“We had little to no interest,” Bonnell recalls. “I think 11 people showed up. Very few people cared back in 2015.”
They care now. As evidenced by a long-going debate in Colorado Springs.
After years of starts and stops — on-and-off conversations within the city’s parks department, on-and-off conversations with stakeholders outside, a pilot program allowing e-bikes on trails that was canceled before starting in 2021 — the debate might be nearing an end. Or not.
Officials have proposed a policy granting Class 1 e-bikes on city-owned parks and open space trails where other bikes are allowed. Those are e-bikes with motors that provide boosts up to 20 mph as …