Open Space Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2023 04 12

Home Browse Search

Open Space Advisory Board Minutes March 8, 2023 Page 5 of 9 The pilot program partners with Lafayette. It is limited: only -r10-15 bike rebates will be available in Louisville during this first year. Only Class 1 and 2 E-bikes will be eligible. The rebates will be done at point -of -sale, and worth $300 or $600 (the latter for income -qualified recipients). Community Cycles has suggested their willingness to help with education events about E-bikes. Kayla gave some information about the details of the program, which is still in development. The applications will open on April 3rd. They are working with other income -qualifier agencies, such as SNAP, to help identify people who are income -qualifying for the program. Helen asked what the criteria for selection for the limited number of rebates would be. Kayla said there would be a baseline criterion established by asking applicants about their commitment to replacing car trips, and then all the people who met it would be put in a lottery. Kayla added that there would be an equal number of rebates for income -qualified people and those who don't meet the income -qualified threshold. Several board members commented that the rebates should be reserved entirely for income -qualified individuals. Kayla said some programs require applicants to commit to safe storage for their E-bike, as a means of theft reduction. Charles cautioned that storing E-bikes inside might be a fire hazard, adding that at his company E-bikes were no longer allowed in the building due to an E-bike's battery catching fire. Helen wondered if there was a way to prioritize people with mobility issues. She wondered if a way to select for them might be to see if they are members of the Via Mobility Service. David said he wasn't sure he liked the idea of a pure lottery; he'd rather privilege people who have needs. Kayla said this was helpful feedback. Debbie cautioned about invading people's privacy in invasive questions about income. Susan asked if E-bikes were legal on open space. Ember said that class 1 and class 2 E-bikes, with lower -power motors, the kind that the rebate specifies, are legal on city trails. Michiko asked about things that didn't work well from the Denver program. Kayla said the biggest concerns she heard were about safety and theft. Michiko clarified that she was more concerned about things that didn't work well during the application process. Kayla said she hadn't heard of many, except that the rebates were so popular that people all applied online when they were released and they'd run out in minutes. To address the unfairness of this problem, her plan is to make the application open for a month, then select applicants from the pool of applicants that had been received. Kayla said that if there is a lot more interest than available rebates, the program could help connect people who didn't get the rebate with other programs when they become available. David asked whether there would be any harm in simply waiting for those other programs to come online, rather than Louisville administering its own rebate program. He asked whether the administration cost of this program might outweigh its benefit. Kayla thought the administration costs would be mostly during the front-end planning phase, and then the program would be easy to run. She also thought the local, specific data generated by this program would be useful to the city.