Councilwoman says city should review skateboard ordinance
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
The city’s skateboarding ordinance may need to be reviewed, according to Warsaw Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins. She requested a review of the ordinance for the downtown area. “It’s kind of gotten out of control. And I know our ordinance addresses streets and sidewalks, but the private parking lot, the city hall parking lot – and I had skateboarders on my roof Saturday night. So they’re jumping into roof lines now on skateboards, and that’s very dangerous. I don’t know what could be done to stop it because by the time the police get there, they’re gone,” she said. On Saturday, Dobbins said she “got down quickly enough to see them with their skateboards, walking along Market Street. I had not been able to figure out what the sound was, but when I saw the skateboards, it was like, ‘Yep, that’s it.’” It’s not just along Buffalo Street either where she lives downtown. “Got people on Center Street report that they’ve got graffiti up on their roof and they also reported people up there, so it’s kind of an issue,” Dobbins concluded. Warsaw Police Department Capt. Kip Shuter said some of the buildings where reports have been made of people on rooftops include the former Saemann building at Center and Buffalo streets, CenturyLink, Times-Union and Lake City Bank buildings. According to Warsaw’s municipal code, Section 74-7, “It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate a skateboard on any street or sidewalk within the downtown business district of the city.” Section 58:46 states, “No persons shall ride or operate a bicycle, skateboard, rollerblades or roller skates on any sidewalk or pedestrian walkway at the following Center Lake Parks: Municipal Park, Nye Park, Bixler Park, Warsaw Biblical Gardens and Central Park. Skate board use will be allowed only at the Mantis Skate Park, and BMX bike riding will be allowed only at the Hire BMX Park.” The city’s skate park is at 400 Little League Drive. School hours are April 22 to June 8 and Aug. 7 to Sept. 15, Monday through Friday 3 to 8 p.m. and Saturday noon to 8 p.m. Summer hours are June 9 to Aug. 6, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dobbins also reported, “The committee has been addressing downtown parking again, every six months or so.” She said it’s looking at unlimited spaces versus two-hour spaces and the parking spaces inventory in the municipal lot. “I just wanted to assure everybody that it’s not something we just kind of put on a shelf. We are pulling it out about every six months,” she said. Dobbins said something will be “forthcoming probably fairly soon,” with some things going to the Traffic Commission. Councilman Ron Shoemaker said since Monday was the first day of spring, “I’d like to talk sometime down the road about what we do about our trees and planter boxes. I’ve just gotten tons of people talking to me about those things.” He said while nothing had to be discussed Monday night, the conversation needs to be started. Shoemaker also congratulated the Lakeland Community Concert Association for the successful U.S. Navy Band concert Sunday in the Warsaw Performing Arts Center. He said it was a great concert with a near-capacity crowd. The next council meeting has been moved from April 3 to March 30 at 7 p.m.
