The state Game, Fish & Parks Commission declined action Thursday on a request by Hill City Mayor Don Voorhees for a temporary exemption to the general ban on motorized travel on the Mickelson Trail. GF&P officials said there was no action for the commission to take.

"The law is very clear on that," GF&P parks division director Doug Hofer of Pierre told the commission. "Neither the department nor the commission has the authority to do that. It's up to the Legislature."

Speaking to the commission during its July meeting at the Ramkota hotel and convention center in Rapid City, Voorhees said the city intends to ask the state Legislature to change state law. Hill City wants authority to determine appropriate modes of travel on the half-mile of concrete sidewalk that serves as the Mickelson trail within Hill City. The city wants to allow the use of Segways - electronic two-wheeled scooters that drivers operate standing up - for tours and short-distance travel on that section of trail, Voorhees said.

"What I'm doing is asking for you to consider a temporary exemption until we could go to the state Legislature," he said.

But Hofer said the commission couldn't even issue a temporary exemption for a limited portion of the trail. State law specifies only a few exemptions to the ban on motorized travel on the Mickelson Trail. Those include wheelchairs used by people with limited mobility, maintenance vehicles and landowners who use small sections of the trail to get to their property. Snowmobiling is allowed on a portion of the trail from Dumont to Deadwood, too.

Hill City hopes to get its own exemption for the sidewalk section of the trail in town, which the city maintains, Voorhees said.

A Hill City business, Rushmore Segway, had been giving tours on that trail section, a practice that stopped last week after complaints about violations of the ban on motorized travel on the trail. Rushmore Segway no longer operates inside Hill City, primarily because of safety concerns with using other streets, Voorhees said.

But the issue is bigger than the Segway tours, he said.

"We're not talking specifically about Segways. It's more about local control," he said.

The city would use that control wisely, Voorhees said.

"We don't want to open it up to motorcycles and four-wheelers and dirt bikes," he said. "But if the citizens of Hill City want to open it up to Segways, I think we should be able to do that."

Rushmore Segway owner Darrin Gourde demonstrated a Segway to the commission Thursday afternoon. Gourde said they devices were energy efficient, safe and easy to use. And Segway tours are already being offered in more than 200 cities, he said.

"This isn't anything new," Gourde said. "They've been offering tours for several years."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com