With the Iowa Legislature changing the laws surrounding all-terrain and off-road vehicle usage on roadways, the City of Perry heard from multiple people at the most recent city council meeting regarding the city’s ordinance. 

House File 2130 allows people to operate these types of vehicles on city and county roads but they need to follow a list of rules including showing registration, being 18-years-old or over and having proof of insurance while also traveling at no more than 35 mph along with two working headlights and brake lights. 

City Administrator Sven Peterson says the current city ordinance does not allow the usage of ATVs or UTV on city streets. Peterson points out there are quite a few cities which do allow their use on their city streets.

“We were kind of, I would say, surprised by this new state law because it was kind of passed at the last minute in a bundle of different things and there was really no discussion about it during the legislative process so we were a little surprised by it but we are taking the time to study that.”

Peterson tells Raccoon Valley Radio the plan includes Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn discussing the ordinance with the Council’s Public Safety Committee. 

“Hopefully, being able to look at that, weigh the pros and cons, and then bring back a recommendation or at least the conversation of the study they did to the rest of the city council for discussion. It’ll be interesting to see how this new state law affects more cities and their adoption or whether or not they allow UTV usage on city streets.”

For a full look at the bill you can go here.