City to Study Plan to Ban Skateboards : Camarillo: Prompted by complaints of harassment, officials will also discuss building a park for such activity.

Camarillo officials tonight will consider an ordinance that would selectively ban skateboarding while the city determines the feasibility of building a park for sidewalk surfers in the city.

The proposed ordinance comes after repeated complaints of skateboarders harassing patrons and pedestrians at various shopping centers. If passed, the ordinance could be posted and enforced at commercial centers that have problems with skateboarders or other roller skaters. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and fined.

City Councilman Michael Morgan said that whether the ordinance passes or not, city officials will pursue building a skateboard park.

“We believe that it’s important to provide some protection for our merchants,” Morgan said. “But we also believe that it’s important that we find a long-term solution to this problem.”

The ordinance came at the urging of Mayor Charlotte Craven, who said she received several complaints from patrons of commercial centers that skateboarders at times physically or verbally abuse pedestrians, motorists and merchants.

To learn more about skateboarders’ needs, the city held a community forum this month that was attended by about 40 skateboarders, merchants, residents and city officials.

From that forum, 17 questionnaires were sent to cities across the state that already have skateboarding facilities to learn more about their operation.

“We wanted to know more about how they dealt with the liability and finance problems,” said Assistant City Manager Larry Davis. “We will be looking to develop some sort of public-private partnership between the city, the parks district and business.”

For City Councilman Ken Gose, the ordinance represents a necessary evil, he said.

“I believe that I will be supporting the ordinance because I think we need to do something for our business people,” Gose said. “At the same time, I don’t think we’ll solve this problem just by passing an ordinance. I can empathize with the kids a lot. They love their sport and need a safe and legal place in which to go in the city.”

One city that responded to the city’s survey was Huntington Beach, which dedicated its first skateboard facility in August. According to Bill Fowler, the city’s superintendent for recreation and human services, the biggest hurdle in making the $71,000 facility work was the issue of liability.

“We got around that, though, by requiring the kids use helmets, elbow and knee pads,” Fowler said. “The problem for us sounded every bit as bad as Camarillo’s. We also passed an ordinance banning the sport in commercial centers but it really didn’t work. The only thing that worked was to build a facility.”

Fowler said the facility, which was built on a small parcel in a city-owned park, was paid for by federal block grant funds. He said the facility is used by about 75 to 80 skateboarders a day.

In the Northern California city of Benicia, officials also passed a ban but, like Huntington Beach, had to build a skateboarding facility before getting a grip on the problem.

“It was a serious problem for us,” said Michael Alvarez, the city’s director of parks and community services. “What we ended up doing was using an old parking lot that was inside one of our parks. For about $17,000, we were able to convert it to something that the skaters like and will use and that works for us.”

Like Huntington Beach’s facility, the Benicia skate park is not staffed by city recreation employees but is regularly inspected for wear. Skateboarders wishing to use the facility must also agree to wear helmets and other safety equipment.

The Camarillo council meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 601 Carmen Drive.