County solicitor Matt Bugle and Tom Cote of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) told Lebanon City Council during a pre-council agenda review that the county has submitted a draft ordinance governing the trail and is visiting affected municipalities for feedback.

The draft, as written, would regulate the trail as county property and sets default hours “from dawn to dusk.” Matt Bugle, county solicitor, said the county can consider changes to address local usage patterns: “The trail, as presently as stated, the trail is open from from dawn to dusk… if there’s language that you would like for the county for us to add, you know, with regard to understanding that it is utilized by the students, that’s something we can certainly take a look at.”

Council members and the mayor raised two recurring concerns: school-student access after dark and how leash rules should be applied in the city. Council members noted that high-school and middle-school students, and residents using the trail as a transportation corridor, sometimes use the trail after sunset. Mayor Sherry Alcopello and councilors said enforcing a strict dawn-to-dusk rule inside the city would be difficult and could unduly criminalize routine use by residents and students.

Council also noted the city’s existing leash ordinance, which the mayor verified specifies a maximum leash length of six feet. The county solicitor said the county draft is not intended to supplant local ordinances: the county expects municipalities to adopt complementary language if they wish. “The county ordinance is in no way intended to… supplant the city ordinances or the township ordinances if they have something already in place,” Bugle said.

Tom Cote, LVRT board member, asked for municipal police assistance with enforcement if municipalities choose to adopt the county ordinance. He also highlighted motorized-vehicle concerns — including e-bikes, motorcycles and snowmobiles — as a safety issue the ordinance aims to address.

Next steps: council members asked staff to coordinate with the city solicitor and with the county to draft a city-specific ordinance or exception language that would: (1) clarify that the leash rule in the city remains six feet and (2) allow for local exceptions to hours of operation to accommodate student and commuter use. County representatives said they will incorporate municipal comments before the county commissioners consider enactment.