Bellefontaine City Council rejected its golf cart ordinance 4-3 on November 10, 2026. Council President Ben Stahler broke a tie against adopting Ordinance 26-50, which would have allowed golf carts and other qualifying vehicles on certain streets. The vote leaves the proposed Main Street exception without effect.
Golf Cart Search compared the November 10 council recording with the October 27 minutes and the October 13 draft. The minutes show council had carved out one stretch of Main Street, between Sandusky Avenue and Palmer Avenue, from the draft's prohibited routes. That carve-out belonged to the ordinance council rejected.
How did Bellefontaine vote on golf carts?
Council took two roll calls at the third reading. The first was on whether to table the ordinance until the full council could vote. Members split 3-3, and Stahler voted no, bringing the proposal to an adoption vote that night. On the second roll call, members split 3-3 again. Stahler voted no a second time and announced that the motion failed 4-3.
The tabling discussion begins at 40:34 in the meeting recording. The adoption vote and deciding vote begin at 42:04. Ordinance 26-50 appears under third reading in the November 10 agenda.
This was the city's second golf cart proposal of the year. Ordinance 26-31 died in August when no one moved to pass it at second reading. The August proposal used a 35 mph street limit. Council lowered the proposed ceiling to 25 mph in Ordinance 26-50, which made it to third reading after a 4-3 vote to advance it on October 27.
What happened to the Main Street exception?
At the October 27 meeting, council unanimously approved an amendment naming the Main Street segment between Sandusky and Palmer. The October 13 draft already treated crossing a prohibited road at an intersection separately from driving along it. The amendment would have removed one specific stretch from the prohibited-route list. The draft otherwise restricted travel along U.S. 68, State Route 47 and State Route 540 in the city, including the downtown U.S. 68 bypass.
Other conditions in the draft would still have applied. It limited covered vehicles to streets posted at 25 mph or less, required city permission for street use, and called for the city to designate any eligible collector street or portion of one. The amendment addressed the prohibited-route list. It did not issue a route designation or permission.
Lake Avenue, Ludlow Road and Eastern Avenue were examples of collector streets in the draft. For a street in that category, meeting the posted speed limit threshold was only one step. The Service-Safety Director would also have had to designate the street or part of it for use, considering conditions such as traffic volume, sight distance and crash history. The Main Street amendment left that approval process in place.
Can golf cart owners use the proposed routes now?
Ordinance 26-50 did not authorize any new routes. Under Ohio Revised Code 4511.215, local authorities can permit under-speed vehicles on eligible roads within their jurisdiction. The proposed 25 mph ceiling, city route permissions and Main Street exception were part of the plan Bellefontaine declined to adopt.
The rejected draft also required a valid driver’s license, liability insurance, inspection, title and registration for the vehicles it covered. Its equipment list included lights, mirrors, a windshield and wiper, brakes and occupant restraints. Those requirements were part of Ordinance 26-50’s proposed local program.
Ohio classifies factory low-speed vehicles separately from ordinary under-speed golf carts. See our Ohio golf cart laws guide for the state rules and our golf cart and LSV comparison for the differences between the two vehicle classes.
Primary reporting source
Bellefontaine City Council: November 10 meeting recording
