Chelsea, MA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 16-79 of the Miscellaneous Offenses chapter targets gas, alcohol or electrically powered scooters and similar motorized recreational vehicles, the kind a rider stands or sits on and steers with a t-bar column. It sets two separate bans. First, no one may park or leave such a device on a sidewalk, in a park or playground, or on other city-owned property, except vehicles run by federal, state or municipal entities, vehicles used by handicapped persons, or medical emergency vehicles. Second, no one may operate a motorized scooter, motorized skateboard or other motorized vehicle capable of exceeding five miles per hour on any public way, sidewalk, playground or other city property at all, subject to the same government, handicapped-use and emergency-medical exceptions plus an exception for landscaping and snow-removal equipment.

00. Every confiscated motorized scooter is towed at the owner's expense regardless of which offense number it is. Where the rider is a minor under sixteen and a half years old, the ordinance shifts financial responsibility for the fine to the parent or guardian, and holds the vehicle until an adult reclaims it and receives the citation. The section was originally adopted in 2004 and amended in 2017 and 2019 to reach its current scope covering skateboards, scooters and other motorized recreational vehicles rather than scooters alone.