Golf carts and other low-speed vehicles are once again allowed on some streets in Fenwick Island after a Chancery Court official ordered the town to temporarily suspend enforcement of its ban.
Resident Kim Espinosa sued Fenwick Island in late June in an attempt to overturn the town’s ordinance that prohibited most low-speed vehicles, including the yellow Moke – a specific type of electric golf cart – that Espinosa and her family have been using to get around Fenwick for the past year.
Espinosa said she attempted to work with the town before going to the court system, but to no avail. While Fenwick officials did not wish to comment on the pending litigation, the March ordinance states that the ban was designed to “promote the public health, safety and general welfare of the property owners and residents of the Town of Fenwick Island.”
BACKGROUND:Fenwick Island banned low-speed vehicles like golf carts. Then this resident sued the town
FENWICK ELECTIONS:Why a series of resignations rocked ‘quiet’ Fenwick Island and what’s next for town council
In the June 21 lawsuit, Espinosa argues that the town’s ordinance interferes with her property rights, and it is in direct conflict with the state law regulating low-speed vehicles.
The Delaware law allows LSVs – four-wheeled vehicles, excluding trucks, that can reach up to 20 mph but no more than 25 mph on paved surfaces – on any two-lane roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less. LSVs are not permitted on any dual highways, like Coastal Highway, unless someone needs to cross the highway to get to the other side.
Under state code then, golf carts and vehicles like Espinosa’s Moke were allowed on side streets in Fenwick, which have speed limits of 35 mph or less. That was until the town decided to enact its own ordinance prohibiting all LSVs on town streets, except for construction equipment, lawn mowers, emergency vehicles, town vehicles and electric mobility devices like wheelchairs and scooters. The ban also included a $100 fine for violating the ordinance.
The court official who signed the order granting Epsinosa’s motion for expedited proceedings and a temporary restraining order seemed to agree with Espinosa: The state code prevails.
Master in Chancery Patricia W. Griffin explicitly states in the order that the town’s ordinance “appears to be in conflict with the [state] Statute.” Griffin wrote that Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster similarly granted a motion to expedite in the Delaware attorney general’s lawsuit against the City of Seaford, which also involved a conflict between the state statute and city ordinance.
The Delaware Chancery Court recently struck down that Seaford ordinance, which required the cremation or burial of fetal remains after a miscarriage or abortion, because it determined the local ordinance was preempted by state law.
SEAFORD RULING:Court rules against Seaford’s effort to require how fetal remains are disposed
In this Fenwick lawsuit, the parties can now schedule a hearing on a preliminary injunction or move forward to a final resolution, according to the court order.
This legal action also comes ahead of another municipal election in Fenwick Island on Aug. 6.
Plaintiff Kim Espinosa and her husband Eric Espinosa have joined the race for three open council seats. The other candidates include Edward Bishop and incumbents Richard Benn and William Rymer. Mayor Vicki Carmean did not file for re-election.
Emily Lytle covers Sussex County from the inland towns to the beaches. Got a story she should tell? Contact her at elytle@delmarvanow.com or 302-332-0370. Follow her on Twitter at @emily3lytle.
