Apr 14, 2016 | Activism, By-laws, CASE News, Skateboarding, Skateparks
Metro News published an article about “The Slab”, the DIY skate spot located in Forest Heights. The article interviews the creator of this skater-built and maintained skatepark and tells us that the City of Calgary parks staff is aware of it. Click the photo below to read the article:
Photo by Jennifer Friesen – Metro
CASE supports the DIY park and would like to see it incorporated into the city’s skatepark network. The southeast community of Forest Heights is not scheduled for a concrete park as part of the Skateboard Amenities Strategy. Unfortunately, nearby Applewood was originally slated for a skatepark but the project did not move forward due to lack of interest, according to the Site Selection Report.
Site Selection Report Map
If you are skating at the Slab, be mindful of residents and the creators of this unique spot. We want it to last as long as possible– it’s been there for three years already! Similarly to well-known DIY skateparks like Burnside and Leeside, keep it clean, pack out what you pack in, and just respect the space.
Apr 12, 2016 | Activism, By-laws, CASE News, Skateboarding
The City of Calgary Planning department recently released the results of their engagement for “sports ramps”. You may recall that Calgary has a bylaw which prohibits skateboard ramps on private property. That bylaw is currently being repealed after a notice of motion was filed by Councillor Evan Woolley.
The city conducted an online survey, open houses, as well as a telephone survey. The results of those surveys showed that the majority of Calgarians polled support having skateboard ramps on private property. Strong support (72%) came from the telephone survey, which is a random sample that’s designed to be representative of all Calgarians. You can review the results for all three surveys by clicking the timeline below:
City of Calgary Engage Timeline
Now we wait for the next step, which is on June 1st when bylaw and planning staff present their findings to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services. That committee is made up of seven councillors and the mayor. The meeting is open to the public.
After that, the committee’s findings will go to council for the final review on June 13th.
In an interesting twist, the city has made a “policy shift” on ramps on public streets (as well as street hockey nets and basketball nets). According to their recent tweet, ramps are now allowed on streets, provided they don’t obstruct traffic and are removed after use.
City of Calgary tweet
Thank you for your patience and support on this. We’re optimistic that ramps will be allowed on public property later this year!
Jan 6, 2016 | By-laws, CASE News, Headlines, Skateboarding
Longtime Calgary skater, Rich Coumont had been ordered by bylaw officers to remove his backyard ramp or face massive fines. CTV News caught up with him to get his side of the story. Read it by clicking the image below:
Rich Coumont’s ramp (courtesty CTV)
Jan 5, 2016 | Activism, By-laws, CASE News, Skateboarding
The City has published the results of the engagement on “sports ramps” from the fall.
UPDATE: the image below is a screenshot of the online survey results, which are no longer available. You can still view the results of the open house by clicking below:
Nov 22, 2015 | Activism, By-laws, Skateboarding
There’s only one week left to complete the ramp bylaw survey.
This is your chance to let the city know why it’s important to be able to have ramps on private property. Calgary is the only city in Canada that has a bylaw like prohibiting ramps so click the image below to get to the two-minute survey:
Jul 2, 2015 | Activism, By-laws, CASE News, Skateboarding
You’re probably aware that Calgary has had a bylaw banning ramps on private property since 1986. On June 29th, Councillor Evan Woolley put forward a Notice of Motion to amend the bylaw. Council passed the motion.
This is a good first step towards changing the bylaw but there’s still some work to be done which will be presented to council in 2016.
In the meantime, we strongly suggest contacting your councillor and explaining why it’s important to change this bylaw. All councillors are listed at this link, so find yours and use the contact form to reach out.
You can read how each councillor voted by viewing the agenda minutes here. Scroll down to 8.1.2 “SPORTS RAMPS”.
Read more in Metro, Calgary Herald, and Calgary Sun.
