MORGANTOWN — Of the four municipalities in the Greater Morgantown Area, two — Morgantown and Granville — already have specific ordinances on the books pertaining to soliciting on or near roadways.
The Dominion Post reached out to representatives of all four in light of Wednesday’s passage of the county’s new Ordinance Regulating Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety.
“This only effects Monongalia County. It doesn’t affect municipalities. Municipalities can have their own ordinance or pass versions of this one,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said prior to Wednesday’s vote.
So far, at least two municipalities are considering following the county’s lead.
“It will be an agenda item. Obviously, I can’t confirm what we’ll do, but for me, I would think we would want to remain in line with the county for consistency,” Star City Mayor Sharon Doyle explained.
Westover Mayor Bob Lucci said he believes Westover will also look into the ordinance, but he’s yet to take it up with members of city council.
The county ordinance includes a number of prohibitions for both pedestrians within a right-of-way and vehicle passengers that would make it illegal activity for pedestrians to stand, sit or physically remain within a roadway for any reason apart from crossing the road. It also makes it illegal for both pedestrians and vehicle passengers to interact and pass or exchange items.
The law’s origins go back to a May meeting between representatives of the various municipalities and their police departments and Commission President Tom Bloom and representatives of the sheriff’s department.
While the initial conversation centered around creating a countywide panhandling ordinance, references to panhandling were nixed early in the process upon the advice of legal counsel over concerns about constitutionality.
Even so, Mountain State Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia have announced publicly their intent to challenge the law in court.
“It’s a safety issue and it has to be written as a safety issue. I believe it is. But certainly they can do that if they want,” Lucci said of a potential legal challenge.
Doyle agreed.
“I’ve heard a lot about it being an attack on the homeless. How does anybody know if people are homeless? That seems to be a point that comes up, but our concern as a municipality is safety along the roadways, not determining if an individual is homeless or not,” she said.
Westover and Star City both have ordinances prohibiting door-to-door soliciting and hitchhiking; they don’t appear to have laws pertaining specifically to soliciting on or near roads.
Both Morgantown and Granville do.
Both municipalities have Sec. 371.10, which states, “It shall be unlawful for any person, while standing in any portion of a public right-of-way to solicit business, or contributions of money or other property, from any person traveling in a vehicle within a public right-of-way; provided, however, that the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to services rendered in connection with emergency repairs requested by the operator or passengers of such vehicle.”
In addition, Morgantown has Sec. 509.02 pertaining to “aggressive solicitation” which speaks not only to the manner in which an individual or group makes requests, but where.
For example, it’s illegal to ask for money within 15 feet of an ATM machine or bank entrance.
Solicitation on private property — Suncrest Towne Centre, University Town Centre, Pierpont Centre – doesn’t fall under the county ordinance and must be reported by someone representing the property.
Morgantown Communications Director Drew Bailey said there were internal discussions taking place regarding the county’s ordinance but no immediate comments regarding the city’s plans.
The Dominion Post did not hear from representatives of Granville in time for this report.
