PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — Back in 2017, the Panama City Beach City Council passed two ordinances; to prohibit the overnight rental of scooters and also completely prohibiting the rental of scooters in the city limits.
Shortly after the ordinances passed by the council, a local business, Classy Cycles Inc., challenged the ordinances are arbitrary as a matter of law because the City does not have the power to ban a business from the entire city unless the business constitutes a per se legal nuisance.
The case was first upheld in the trial court level.
Classy Cycles then appealed the decision. After that, the case was reviewed by the First District Court of Appeals.
On November 13, 2019, the court upheld the city’s ordinance once again.
“This was another good decision that reiterated that constitutional power that cities have been granted by the people of the state and so anytime you can get a court to reaffirm that power, it’s always very good and obviously it’s a good thing for the city to have control of its own problems,” said Assistant City Attorney, Cole Davis.
These ordinances will not impact golf carts or other low-speed vehicles.
They will go into effect on September 8, 2020.
To read the full opinion from the court, click here.
