Orange : Skateboard Ban Placed on City Council Agenda

A proposal to ban skateboards from city sidewalks and streets will be considered by the Traffic Commission on March 20, at the direction of the City Council.

The issue arose when Donald and Doris Hanashey wrote to City Clerk Marilyn Jensen, complaining that young skateboarders using the sidewalk in front of their Mapletree Drive home were in danger and destructive. The street is a steep incline in Anaheim Hills.

The children often “lie flat on the skateboards and are obscured by shrubs,” the Hanasheys said. The skateboards travel downhill in front of their house at speeds up to 40 m.p.h., and Donald Hanashey said he has had two “near-miss accidents.”

Should skateboarders “injure themselves on the sidewalk in front of my home, I could be liable for damages,” he added.

Moreover, since the summer of 1983, his front sprinkler risers have been broken off four times, he said, either through carelessness or vandalism by the skateboarders.

The Orange Municipal Code prohibits skateboards from sidewalks in front of commercial and business property and on all public streets in the city. The Hanasheys contend that the law, by omission, discriminates against homeowners.

City Manager J. William Little said his staff has not yet drafted a recommendation for the Traffic Commission.

“It’s almost a losing cause,” he said. “You can adopt an ordinance, but how can you enforce it?”