The Mission of Dunedin Goes Carting for the present and beyond:
Dunedin Goes Carting is a resident-run community group, founded in 2011 with the purpose of advocating for and expanding the use of golf carts around the City of Dunedin. Since then, as our community has grown leaps and bounds over the years, our mission has not only been to work on behalf of the carting community with regard to ordinance modernization, safety concerns and general dialogue with the City, but also to create a sense of camaraderie amongst its members. This group has primarily been organized by Eric Peterson, a long time Dunedin resident whose leadership has been responsible for a great many accomplishments.
In the fall of 2019, Eric passed the leadership role of Dunedin Goes Carting to a new group of residents, who are working together to help this organization live up to its refined mission: Continuing to represent the carting community in constructive dialogue with the City and County, further expanding the zone where carts are permitted, increasing the number of amenities available to cart owners in town and especially organizing family friendly and fun events residents can participate in with and without their golf carts. We’ve put a fresh coat of paint on our brand and our mission, and are mobilizing our group of members to create even more fun for the community and more advocacy on its behalf.
A short history of Dunedin’s Golf Cart community and notes from our original founder, Eric Peterson
Flashback to 2010. A handful of residents were using golf carts as a convenient mode of simple neighborhood transportation. There was some cart activity in the neighborhoods just south of downtown’s Main St., there was also obvious activity in the streets surrounding the Dunedin Golf Course.
Although these groups really weren’t connected with each other, they did have a common interest in persuading the City to consider an ordinance that would permit limited street-legal golf cart usage. Several people began working together with the City. Through their efforts an ordinance ultimately was voted upon and passed in mid-2011. From the first day this become legal, we became interested in how we could incorporate our passion into this new change.
Dunedin Goes Carting (.com) began as a blog-styled web site where we broke the technical down into the more understandable. We wanted people to know that you did not have to shell out tons of money to enjoy owning a golf cart that was capable. It was believed that if we could help a few people with some of the things our members knew, then our city might see more people affording and adopting street-legal golf cart usage.
We began with a small group and created the first Dunedin Christmas Golf Cart parade in December 2011. This spread the word and steadily grew each year. In 2018 we recorded 242 carts that participated and over 1100 people joined in this parade event. We now have over 2100 followers and a constantly varying number of residents that volunteer to participate in other constructive efforts, as their time allows.
Our group has provided input to the city to help gain the ability to navigate between the north and south zones of our carting region, despite the challenges put forth by State DOT. After hurricane Irma, our group volunteers assisted elder residents in clearing limbs from their yards, and helped distribute water and food to the linemen struggling to return power to our neighborhoods after a 6-day power outage.
Our dream and goal were reached. It’s 2019 and we have a thriving community that embraces and fully uses golf carts as a recreational and often utilitarian means of transportation.
Together we, the residents, changed what was once seen as only retirement community fodder into a progressive and family-friendly recreation that even our tourists are now enjoying. Today, people across Dunedin’s entire age demographic enjoy this benefit in our City. During early 2018, Dunedin Goes Carting experienced a sabbatical while we reorganized our vision and strategy.
Where we are going…
In Pasco County, “The Villages” is widely recognized as the largest golf cart community in Florida. Tens of thousands of golf carts navigate purpose-built cart pathways, tunnels, and bridges to cross miles of territory that connect nearly 56,000 homes to 43 championship and executive golf courses, and much more.
Dunedin, however, is not a self-contained retirement mecca. We are an increasingly busy international and local tourist destination with State, County, and City-managed roads and no dedicated golf cart-friendly infrastructure. Fortunately, our carting residents now have over 8 years of experience in meshing with vehicular traffic, and though we’re far from perfect, we have a remarkable safety track record.
We recognize that our community needs to plan for the future. Emerging technology is bringing modes of low-speed personal mobility that were never imagined just a few years ago. Electric propulsion and battery technology is enabling golf carts, e-bikes, mobility scooters, Ellwee’s, Segways, and other devices to have greater range, more capable speeds, and be more affordable to many people. Our town is small and has limited access to public transport. We need to plan and control these types of vehicles in advance to prevent them from going out of control. We have the talent within our community to prepare for this vision by being proactive instead of reactive. A well-prepared and well-visioned cooperative plan is the best way to integrate this for the safety and benefit of our residents and tourists of all ages.
The charter of our Golf Cart Community Group is, first and foremost, to focus on and support the carting residents of Dunedin. “Promoting the safe enjoyment of street-legal cart use in Dunedin” remains our #1 drive. This begins by looking inward. Our strength is communication between members of the carting community and leveraging the depth of talent and experience our very diverse group brings to the table. Our goal is to make Dunedin the most enjoyable and safest carting community in Florida. Our carting residents combine efforts and our collective voice, to lead the city and the community with our organization and with our strength of example and execution.
Together, we can make the City of Dunedin FL #1 in yet another realm: Integration of Energy-Efficient Low-Speed Personal Mobility.
Our Charter and Rules of Engagement…
