Fountain Valley public safety update: E-bike safety ordinance passes

Following in the footsteps of what numerous cities have done, Fountain Valley on Tuesday decided to tighten the rules relating to the operation of electric bicycles.

The City Council approved a municipal code amendment providing definitions for several modes of transportation and outlining regulations against unsafe riding. The ordinance concerned e-bikes, mopeds, motor-driven cycles and pocket bikes.

The changes largely mirrored those in place for other vehicles in the municipal code and the California Vehicle Code, including riding against the flow of traffic, following the direction of posted signs, and speed-related safety issues.

The council also passed an ordinance to include e-bikes, mopeds, and other forms of electrical and motorized transportation among the list of prohibited vehicles in city parks.

“In the future, the [police] department will hold mandatory training sessions for e-bike riders, and parents, who plan to ride e-bikes to school in Fountain Valley,” Police Sgt. Brian Mosher said. “Upon completing the training, students will be issued a permit to ride their e-bikes to school. I think this is very important. This will make sure that each of them has been trained.”

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Officials Tuesday supported rules to help curb unsafe speeds and risky behaviors associated with e-bikes, which assist the mobility challenged but have become problematic for pedestrians and motorists.

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Vice Mayor Ted Bui asked how an officer would know if a rider had completed the training.

“We will have some sort of record keeping that will be on our side of knowing who’s had the training, and the parents will be present during these,” Mosher added. “We’re following suit of the other agencies that are doing the same thing, so we want to make sure that everybody understands that these bikes are dangerous.

“I don’t think that parents know when they’re spending $5,000 on some of these bikes how dangerous it is and the increasing injuries that we’ve been having associated with these bikes.”

Mosher added that the police department would be working with schools on educational programs and training events.

“These guys are cutting across traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road, cutting people off,” resident Lyle Scheppele said. “... I really think what the city is doing is the right answer, and to get them educated. Every time I turn a corner, I’m expecting to see an e-bike cut me off. I don’t want to be the guy that hits a kid, and I don’t think anybody else does, either.”

Officer Danielle Fermin, left, makes comments regarding her upcoming role as a school resource officer for the Fountain Valley-based schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District.

(Andrew Turner)

Garden Grove school district contracts for Fountain Valley SRO

The Fountain Valley police department and the Garden Grove Unified School District have entered into a three-year cooperative agreement to have a school resource officer service four campuses within the city limits.

The fully-burdened cost of a school resource officer annually is $200,440, city officials said. The school district will cover $152,335 (76%) of the cost for the position, with the city accounting for the rest through the police department’s personnel allocations budget.

Police Captain Steve DeSantis said the cost-sharing agreement reflects service performed during the regular school year only.

Los Amigos High, along with Monroe, Northcutt and Allen elementary schools, will be the campuses served through the agreement, which was approved by the City Council on Tuesday. The school resource officer program will go into effect Oct. 2, DeSantis said.

Officer Danielle Fermin will serve as the school resource officer. With three additional school districts within the city limits, Fermin would be able to assist in the event of an emergency, she said.

“The plan going forward, when staffing permits, is to obtain another personnel allocation for an additional SRO going forward,” DeSantis said.

Mayor Glenn Grandis, who supported the move and said he thinks the agreement is “great,” also added the city should seek cost-sharing agreements for school resource officer programs with the other school districts in Fountain Valley.

“We can’t have a cost-sharing agreement with just one of the school districts,” Grandis said. “We have to then go to Fountain Valley School District, the Huntington Beach Union High School District, [and] Ocean View School District. If we’re going to charge Garden Grove, we have to charge the other school districts, as well, is my opinion.”