Pittsford Village Chat›Pittsford Trustees Vote 5–0 to Rewrite Bike Law 28 Days After Adoption

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Pittsford Trustees Vote 5–0 to Rewrite Bike Law 28 Days After Adoption

The Short Version

The Board voted 5–0 to direct its attorney to raise the sidewalk violation fine from $100 to $500 — just 28 days after Local Law #3 took effect.
Confiscation language is also being strengthened to allow immediate seizure of a violating vehicle; no draft language exists yet.
Of 242 reader comments on the original law, 107 were critical — more than three times the 32 that were supportive, though these are internet comments and the counts are directional.
Nearly one in five comments asked a plain practical question about where the law applies — canal path, street, pedal bikes, how fifty feet gets measured.
The same meeting moved a LaBella Associates traffic calming assessment covering South Street and Lincoln Avenue — the question of where cyclists are supposed to go instead.

Two hundred forty-two comments landed on this site in the two weeks after the Village announced the new Pittsford bike law. On Tuesday night, the Board of Trustees voted 5–0 to direct its attorney to make it tougher.

What the Board Directed

The September 8 agenda listed it as item 4: a Monroe County Sheriff's Office recommendation for a code update on e-bike and limited use motorcycle safety. I watched the meeting in real time. Trustees directed the Village attorney to draft two changes. The fine for a sidewalk violation would rise from $100 to $500. Confiscation language would be strengthened to allow immediate seizure of a violating vehicle.

The vote was unanimous. No draft language exists yet — writing it is the assignment.

The meeting packet posted ahead of Tuesday night contains no supporting document for item 4. Anyone who downloaded it to follow along found a divider page and nothing else. The dollar figures above come from the discussion in the room.

How the Pittsford Bike Law Got Here

The record starts at a workshop meeting on May 20 at 12:15 in the afternoon. Sergeant Joseph Masad of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Traffic Enforcement Unit briefed the Board on state law and enforcement, and the adopted minutes record one specific gap: officers cannot effectively enforce violations by riders under 16. He recommended a local ordinance authorizing confiscation of e-bikes and e-scooters with a civil fine attached.

The same minutes record where the Board landed that afternoon.

Trustees expressed support for pursuing a confiscation-based enforcement mechanism and educational initiatives rather than implementing complex, location-specific regulations.

Counsel was directed to begin drafting on June 9. The Board set a public hearing on July 14, held it August 11, and announced the adopted law in its August 15 bulletin.

Local Law #3 already carries much of what Tuesday's motion reaches for. Electric bicycles and scooters are already barred from every sidewalk in the village. An officer may already confiscate one found in violation, and must already release it once fines are paid. The fine is already $100 for a first or any subsequent offense. What the law added on top of that is location-specific — a 50-foot dismount rule, and full dismount zones defined by zoning district rather than by street name.

What 242 Comments Said

The August bulletin ran here on August 15. Comments arrived fast: 94 that day, 104 the next, and 221 of the 242 came from readers rather than from me.

We've summarized all 221 here, sorting each comment by its main position. The sorting is a judgment call — plenty of these are sarcastic, and reasonable people would file some of them differently. These are internet comments; treat the distribution as directional, not a precise tally.

Critical comments outnumbered supportive ones better than three to one. The more useful number is 43 — close to one in five — that asked a plain question about where the law applies. Whether it covers riding in the street. Whether it covers the whole canal path or only the stretch between the bridges. Whether it reaches a pedal bike or only an e-bike. How fifty feet gets measured. Who enforces it at all. The Village has no police department, and at the February public hearing the Board told a resident that enforcement could fall to the Sheriff's Office, the DPW, code enforcement, or a seasonal hire.

Not one of the 242 comments named the $100 fine.

The Other Item on That Agenda

Item 7 that same night was a proposal from LaBella Associates, dated September 3, for a Traffic Calming and Active Transportation Assessment. The scope includes 72-hour speed and volume counts at the village's east and west gateways, a review of what the 2019 Active Transportation Plan actually delivered, and new focus areas on South Street and Lincoln Avenue.

That is the other half of the question readers kept circling in the comments: where people on bikes are supposed to go instead. Both items moved the same night.

The Board's next meeting is a workshop on September 16. Local Law #3 runs five pages and is posted on the Village website. Written comment goes to the Village Clerk at villageclerk@villageofpittsfordny.gov.

Disclosure: Renée Stetzer, the author's partner, founded and leads Walk Bike Pittsford, which advocates on active transportation matters including sidewalks and ADA accessibility. She spoke on the record at the February 10 public hearing on this legislation.

Disclosure: The author holds an alternate seat on the Village of Pittsford Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals. Local Law #3 defines its dismount zones by zoning district; the PZBA has no role in Chapter 176 or in this legislation.

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WOW!

Sep 9, 2026 at 1:46 pm