CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — The Cherokee County Board of County Commissioners is looking into setting new rules for riding e-bikes and e-scooters across the county.
County officials told Channel 2 Action News there is no county-wide ordinance or regulations on microtransit vehicles.
That could be changing soon.
According to the county, “that gap is the reason for the new section” of county code on e-bikes.
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Officials said the current code only addresses gasoline-powered devices and carts, but electric micromobility don’t qualify under the current definition, which is restricted to gas-powered.
“The proposed Article IV fills that gap. It defines each device, states where each class of e-bike and scooter may and may not go (streets, paved shared-use paths, sidewalks, and trails), sets basic safety and operating rules, requires signage, and provides a clear, progressive penalty structure,” according to the county. “The driving purpose is public safety...and giving our officers a clear, enforceable standard.”
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While the Cherokee County rule is pending, the City of Woodstock has already passed its own local ordinance in a similar fashion.
Channel 2 Action News reported when those e-bike regulations were passed in July.
As far as safety for the county rules, officials said they are prioritizing:
- Safety first. The ordinance is fundamentally about safety — matching each device to the facilities it can be used on safely and keeping higher-speed devices off pedestrian-oriented spaces.
- Consistency with our neighbors. Cities in and around the County, and peer local governments across the region, have adopted similar e-bike and micromobility ordinances; ours is similar to those existing Georgia ordinances.
- Uniformity and clear enforcement. The new section is cross-referenced with the County’s existing code — the sidewalk rule in Section 50-1, the motorized-carts article, and the all-terrain-vehicle section — and it adopts the State’s Title 40 definitions. Tying everything together this way keeps the code internally consistent and makes enforcement clear for both officers and the public.
The county is now working on getting approval to set public hearings on the new rules.
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