After encountering resistance from local bicyclists, Palo Alto plans to reconsider on Monday a proposal to ban e-bicycles in all open space preserves, including the Baylands.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss on Monday a recommendation from city staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission to ban e-bikes at all open space preserves, a list that includes Pearson-Arastradero Preserve, Foothills Nature Preserve, Esther Clark Park and the Baylands. The revision was sparked by a new state law, Assembly Bill 1909, that allows e-bikes of all classes to be allowed on all trails by default unless local law prohibits it.

Currently, biking is only prohibited on trails at Foothills Nature Preserve. If the council approves a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission, that ban would be extended to the other preserves, at least as far as e-bikes are concerned. In making its recommendation, commission members argued that prohibiting e-bikes at all open space preserves would give the city time to establish regulations, install signage and take other actions that would make the activity safer.

"If we are to move forward to opening unpaved trails and unpaved space to e-bikes, we have some work to do," Chair Jeff Greenfield said at the Nov. 22 meeting, shortly before the vote.

Not everyone, however, sees it this way. Several bicyclists have lobbied the council and the commission not to extend the prohibition to the Baylands, which they argue is very different from the other open space preserves. Arthur Liberman, who serves on the Palo Alto Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, made a case for keeping the Baylands open to e-bike riders in a letter to the council. Lieberman, 82, said he regularly rides with a group of senior cyclists, some of whom have e-bikes.

While Liberman had no objections to banning e-bikes in most open space preserves, he argued that the Baylands should be treated differently — a position that is broadly shared by the bike advisory group.

"The Baylands are flat and the Baylands unpaved trails are really wide gravel roadways," Liberman wrote. "Bicycles have been allowed on the unpaved trails in the Baylands for many years."

He also argued that a ban on e-bikes, if enacted, would be difficult or impossible to enforce. Some e-bikes, he said, are virtually indistinguishable from manually operated bikes.

"My feeling is that the regulation might not be consistently enforceable even if Palo Alto had a force of trained rangers, and there won't be any of them anyway," Liberman said.

Resident Peter Mueller took issue with the ban for a different reason: it treats all e-bikes in the same way. He argued in an email to the council that "Class 1" e-bikes with "pedal assist" should continue to be allowed.

"They are basically no more risky than the large variety of other bikes which some riders drive at high speeds," Mueller wrote.

While the council has yet to consider the issue, opponents of the proposed ban secured a small victory on Jan. 23, when the council refrained from approving the item on its "consent calendar," which is usually reserved for noncontroversial items. Council members Pat Burt and Greg Tanaka, both avid bicyclists, joined Vice Mayor Greer Stone in pulling the item off consent and scheduling a full discussion of the topic on Feb. 27.