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By Tiffany Goodwein

City to review skateboard bylaw

Apr 25, 2022 | 6:21 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – For Zachari Beriault, skateboarding at the park is one his favourite things to do.

“It’s sick because there is no coach on your back coaching you and there is no restricted teams right. It is just you skating and having fun,” he said.

But having fun and skating outside the perimeter of the skatepark is prohibited. That’s because since 2004 the city adopted a skateboard bylaw, prohibiting skating on sidewalks and roadways in the downtown core. If caught, skateboarders face a 30-day impoundment of their board and a fine.

“I just think it is not fair like sometimes I will be skating from Crescent Heights down to the park and like the cops will hassle us because we are skating down here,” Beriault said.

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Concerns were raised during last fall’s election and to make room for E-scooters later this year, the city is now looking to make amendments that would permit skateboarding downtown.

“The skateboard bylaw was put in place at a time where skateboarders were downtown doing tricks on public property, and now we have skateboard parks. we have an association that works really hard to teach skateboarders etiquette, and rules of the road and it really was time to review that and see if it was really necessary anymore,” Robins said.

Under the proposed bylaw amendments, skateboarding recklessly and on roadways would still be prohibited.

The move to explore changes is applauded by the Medicine Hat Skateboarding Association, which has been advocating for change for years.

“I know there are going to be some naysayers, that skateboarders are going to be troublesome, and a danger to pedestrians on the sidewalk. I don’t see it that way. The skateboarders that we deal with on a daily basis here in Medicine Hat are very respectful. I mean we have seen them give back to the community many times,” said Chris Nickel, past president of the Medicine Hat Skateboarding Association.

Data from the city shows that from 2017 Bylaw had no calls related to the Skateboard Bylaw. In 2018 they had just one call. In 2019 they had six calls and in 2020 eight bylaw-related calls were made.

At the public services committee meeting Monday, the city solicitor responsible for prosecuting the infractions said they have had very few case prosecutions for skateboarding-related offences since the bylaw was brought in.

Nickel says Skateboarders have proven themselves time and time again, and a bylaw amendment would allow them to get around.

“There are teenagers that don’t have the option to drive a vehicle. They don’t have a licence they can’t get a licence or there are people who are just opting to be environmentally friendly or don’t want to pay for the expensive gas prices,” Nickel said.

Council will decide on whether or not to amend the bylaw at a later council meeting effectively putting an end to the decades-old bylaw which saw skaters stalled downtown