Supervisors Target Skaters on Private Property
Ventura County supervisors want a new law banning freewheeling skaters from private parking lots and sidewalks in unincorporated county areas.
By unanimous vote, the five-member panel ordered county attorneys to craft a new law that would allow private-property owners to post signs prohibiting skateboarders, roller skaters and rollerbladers and allow sheriff’s deputies to intervene if skaters refuse to leave.
“This certainly is not an attempt to roll over skaters and skateboarders,” said Supervisor Kathy Long, who introduced the proposal. “This really is in response to private-property owners in unincorporated areas such as churches and commercial properties that have nice, inviting parking lots.”
Supervisors have already banned skaters from publicly owned properties in unincorporated areas through an ordinance passed in 1993, said County Counsel James L. McBride.
And in recent years, several area cities, including Camarillo, Ojai, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura, have enacted ordinances that ban skateboarding in strip malls, parking lots and sidewalks to protect business patrons.
“It is a real, honest concern and it has nothing to do with being discriminatory,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.
No timeline was set for when the ordinance will return for the board’s consideration.
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