According to a recent city report, 34,000 Calgarians say skateboarding is their sport of choice but with little space to skate, some have turned to building backyards ramps to hone their skills.
Richard Coumont is one of those people and has been skating for almost three decades.
Coumont’s children share his passion for the sport so he spent about $3000 and put in a ramp in his backyard four years ago so they could practice.
“It’s amazing, me and my two kids, my 11 year boy and my nine year old girl, we skate it all the time together. They’ve gotten amazing at it. It just brings us together and we just hang out and have fun in the summer,” said Coumont.
Coumont was sent a notice from the city that said a complaint had been received and that the ramp was contrary to the land-use bylaw. He was told that he had until January18th to remove it or be fined $800 a day for every day past the deadline.
“I have to have it taken down and pulled out of the yard,” he said.
The city’s Sports Ramps Bylaw is under review and Ward 8 Councillor Evan Woolley agrees that the current regulations are outdated.
“We have what I believe to be an old outdated bylaw, which bans backyard skateboard ramps. Skateboarding is a very mainstream sport, one of the most popular sports in North America. It’s a healthy activity for kids and adults of all ages to participate in and I was frustrated to find out that you weren’t allowed to have them in your backyards,” said Woolley.
Last summer, Woolley backed a motion to allow appropriately sized sports ramps and an online city survey showed almost 75 percent of Calgarians also want to see the ramp ban overturned.
Coumont says skating should be viewed the same as any other outdoor activity and Woolley agrees.
“People like to go golf. People like to go play shinny or like rec league hockey or anything right? It’s just a way for people to exercise. It’s my release, it’s my thing that I love to do,” he said. “It’s exercise, it’s good for you, it’s creative.”
“You can have basketball courts, you can have swimming pools, you can have all sorts of playgrounds and play structures that don’t require any kind of permitting and I brought forward this notice of motion, which council approved for us to have a look at how we can make this a little bit more accessible,” said Woolley.
Woolley says there are other bylaws to address noise and other neighbour concerns and Wednesday afternoon told CTV News that they will allow Coumont to keep the ramp but he can’t use it until a decision is made.
A change to the bylaw could come as soon as the summer of 2016.
(With files from Jamie Mauracher)
