MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE STRASBURG TOWN COUNCIL HELD ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2007, AT 7:15 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL.
COUNCIL MEMBERS present: Mayor Crisman, Vice Mayor Taylor and Council Members Le Vine, Mauck, Nicholson (arrived at 7:12 p.m.), Terndrup, Wallace (arrived at 7:07 p.m.), and Whittle. Absent: Council Member Rinker (work commitment).
Mayor Crisman called the Public Hearings to order and said the purpose of the Public Hearings was to receive citizen input on the following items:
Dora Buck, Hometown Strasburg, Inc., gave a brief introduction to the group’s grant project and thanked Margaret Struder for her assistance in completing the application.
Carla Wallen, Hometown Strasburg, Inc., along with Margaret Struder, gave a PowerPoint presentation to help answer questions of the grant (slides of PowerPoint attached here-to).
Council Member Le Vine said in response to statements made in the PowerPoint presentation regarding a visitor’s center that Supervisor Helsley is going to bring up at the County meeting that in the Capital Improvement Plan there by a joint town/county visitors center in Strasburg which could help with Hometown’s idea covered under preservation.
Vice Mayor Taylor said he, too, has heard about a visitor’s center and he feels as long as Hometown is involved in the process is the main thing because the group gets some good things done for the Town quickly.
Being no speakers from the audience, the Public Hearing closed at 7:19 p.m.
· Vacation of the existing right of way on School Board property at Strasburg High School and the creation of a new 50’ wide ingress/egress easement and 15’ temporary construction easement across the same property. Both of these items are a result of the construction of the new water plant.
Being no speakers, the Public Hearing closed at 7:20 p.m.
· Section 82-290 Bicycle Helmets
Every person fourteen years of age or younger shall wear a protective helmet that meets the standards promulgated by the American National Standards Institute or the Snell Memorial Foundation whenever riding or being carried on a bicycle on any highway as defined in § 46.2-100, Code of Virginia, sidewalk or public bicycle path.
Violation of this ordinance shall be punishable by a fine of twenty-five ($25.00). However, such fine shall be suspended (i) for first-time violators and (ii) for violators who, subsequent to the violation but prior to imposition of the fine, purchase helmets of the type required by this section.
Violation of any such ordinance shall not constitute negligence, or assumption of risk, be considered in mitigation of damages of whatever nature, be admissible in evidence, or be the subject of comment by counsel in any action for the recovery of damages arising out of the operation of any bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, toy vehicle, or electric power-assisted bicycle, nor shall anything in this section change any existing law, rule, or procedure pertaining to any civil action.
Kim Bishop, 728 Crystal Lane, Strasburg, VA: Stated she has already emailed all of Council and has spoken to most. She thanked the Members for allowing “the discourse that we had at the committee meetings; that is one very positive thing that has happened. Even if there was disagreement it was very well done. I am not opposed to people wearing bicycle helmets; I’m not opposed to children wearing bicycle helmets. If you hit your head maybe that will keep you from cracking it open. However, I’m opposed to it as an issue of parental and personal freedom.” She said she bought bike helmets for her children when they were small, but they did not like to wear them and since she doesn’t like to wear one, she doesn’t require her children to wear them. “I am a responsible parent even though I don’t; it is a personal choice.” Her children have never had a head injury on a bicycle. She has seen people riding bikes with helmets, but riding on the wrong side of the road and she thinks it is more important to obey the laws. If children ride their bikes into Strasburg from other towns in the County without a helmet, under this ordinance the child can receive a ticket and then they would have to go to County Court to fight the ticket because in their town helmets are not mandatory. This can cause a lot of problems unless all the towns agree or the State makes an ordinance which she would still be opposed to.
At the Ordinance Committee meeting, she felt there was a tiny bit of arrogance from Council Member Terndrup and this bothered her, but she does not believe government has the right to tell a parent how to raise their child unless it is in a very, very specific, dangerous issue and she does not see where bike helmets meet this criteria. She thinks it is wonderful idea to educate children about this and having a bike trail is a good idea. She pointed out how she thinks a car would hit a bike rider and said the car would hit the body which in turn could cause the person to hit their head or shoulder, but the person would still be in a bad way with or without a helmet. Many brain injuries come from a lack of oxygen or blood getting to the brain. She concluded by saying she has shown statistics and she knows this will come down to an ideological way, but this is really coming down to whether Council really feels they should tell people they have to do this. If helmets are given away free, eventually the money for the helmets will come from the taxpayers. There are a lot of issues and she really wants Council to think about this from a personal rights issue as well as an individual safety issue.
Richard Seelbach, 133 E. King Street, Strasburg, VA: Stated he attended a lecture from an Indy 500 driver in the 1970’s about the wearing of seatbelts. This person said people were crazy if they went out on a street without a seatbelt. He feels this pertains to wearing helmets, too.
Mr. Seelbach said he has a bike and a helmet and he understands Ms. Bishop’s views, but he does think this is a safety feature for the children and they should wear helmets just as he does as an adult. “But, at the same time it makes no sense to create another law that is not enforced just as we are not enforcing the kids riding their bikes on the sidewalks here in Town…So what sense does it make to create another law that we aren’t going to enforce, but at the same time I truly support our new chief of police in what he is trying to do. If we are going to make another law, we’ve got to enforce it; it doesn’t make any sense to make it and ignore it.” If children don’t have to obey laws now, what will they do as adults?
Being no further speakers, the public hearing closed at 7:29 p.m.