Yorba Linda : Ordinance to Restrict Skateboards Proposed

Teen-agers and young children have been racing down a slope at the Alpha Beta Shopping Center on skateboards, but that may soon be brought to a screeching halt.

The City Council, concerned that children on skateboards outside shopping centers, schools and other sites could hurt themselves and others, asked its attorney on Monday to draw up an ordinance prohibiting skateboards on streets and in other areas.

“We have to get these kids off the streets,” said Councilman Gene Wisner, who owns a shoe store in the shopping center on Yorba Linda Boulevard.

“The doors of our store open out. One of these days, one (rider) is going to come flying down on those skateboards and impale himself on one of our doors.”

The ordinance that the council will consider at a future meeting would also prohibit skateboard riders from grabbing onto animals, bikes, cars or any other moving object, said Fernando Saldivar, the assistant city engineer.

Patterned after a similar law in Brea, the proposed ordinance may also prohibit skateboards in shopping center parking lots, Saldivar said, adding that school sites probably have the highest concentration of skateboard riders.

“Some kids use it as their mode of transportation,” he said.

Other cities with laws restricting skateboards include Anaheim, Santa Ana and Newport Beach.