Legal backyard skateboard ramps are coming to Calgary

[taco.vidal]

As a skater in my younger days, I even think this is a bad idea. Wooley thinks a trampoline is annoying. Wait till your neighbour builds a halfpipe within the legal dimensions and then youll see what annoying is. The sound of skateboards up and down a ramp will drive neighbours insane especially when its in a neghbourhoord with postage stamp sized lots with no alleys.
Get a teen or preteen with three or four friends taking turns and youll have constant noise for hours on end. Forget about a relaxing night in your backyard or even being able to open a window in your house if youve got a baby trying to sleep in a back facing room.

In a 3-2 vote, a city committee narrowly passed administration’s recommendations Wednesday to amend a bylaw to allow backyard skateboard ramps.

The changes would allow homeowners to build ramps up to 1.5 metres high, five metres wide and six metres long without a development permit. The ramps would have to be at least 1.2 metres from side and rear property lines for safety and privacy issues.

Further, city staff suggested tweaking the community standards bylaw to ensure the ramps aren’t used past 10 p.m. The land-use bylaw amendment now goes before the Calgary Planning Commission in September.

Coun. Evan Woolley, the proponent behind the sport ramp changes snuck in a friendly amendment to recommendations, asking that administration present their final product in Q3 instead of Q4.
“I often talk about the unwritten rules of being a good neighbour, and I moved into a house in Killarney a year and a half ago, the neighbours have four kids and a trampoline,” said Woolley. “Sometimes after I’ve had a long day, it’s a bit annoying – but for the massive amount of time…there’s nothing better than hearing the sound of hearing kids having fun in their backyard.”
Woolley called the current backyard sports ramp rules stupid, and said it unfairly demonized a counter culture group that’s now turned mainstream.

[OMG!WTF!]

Good for emergency room business.

[Looch City]

Damn kids, why don't they just chill and smoke weed instead?

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

Good for emergency room business.

Yeah, the one sector that needs more "business"

[Sliver]

Wow, I didn't even know they were illegal in the first place. Gave my kids the option between a half-pipe and a trampoline in April. Unfortunately, they went with the trampoline. I'd have loved to have a half-pipe in my yard.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I don't see how this will be much different than the regular sound of kids playing. Not to mention the fact that skateboard ramps won't be popping up in every back yard. Maybe 1 in 10,000?

[troutman]

Game On for street hockey too:

http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/04/06...hockey-battles

[Fuzz]

Growing up I can think of 3 ramps within 500m of my house. It was great.

[Northendzone]

so what will be the most annoying part about having a neighbor with a ramp:

- the fact you will hear the word "dude" mention 7 to 800 times per hour
- the constant sound of wheel running over wood, followed by the sound of someone landing a 360 front or back side something or other
- the screams of agony when the neighbor kid misses the landing and breaks a bone in his body

[GGG]

I'm in favour of this passing.

Noise bylaws still apply,

so no different then Creeking swing sets, back yard fires, Outdoor speakers, Bikes out front, BBQ's, etc. I'd probably try to learn to skate board and try out the neighbours ramp breaking my ankles in the process. But I don't see why they would be banned over slides and swings which are over 1.5m tall.

The only think I would add would be that the a fence be required in the yard and that the top of fence be higher than the top of ramp to contain noise.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

so what will be the most annoying part about having a neighbor with a ramp:

- the fact you will hear the word "dude" mention 7 to 800 times per hour
- the constant sound of wheel running over wood, followed by the sound of someone landing a 360 front or back side something or other
- the screams of agony when the neighbor kid misses the landing and breaks a bone in his body

This is when schedenfraude kicks in and will be awesome.

[habernac]

I love skate ramps, but those things are loud as hell. There's going to be some angry people.

Back in the 80s there were a few halfpipes/quarter pipes we used to go to with our bikes. They never lasted long, someone would complain and they'd get torn down. We ended up getting together with a local business and got some parents together and managed to get some money and build a park. Not sure how we got the land, but we had a decent public halfpipe.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by habernac

I love skate ramps, but those things are loud as hell. There's going to be some angry people.

Yup, loud as well indeed.

Originally Posted by GGG

This is when schedenfraude kicks in and will be awesome.

Also yes.

[PepsiFree]

Would've loved one in my parents backyard.

I think this is great, personally, and I'm all for families being able to enjoy their backyards in whatever way they want. I know when I was into it around 8-13, the skateparks were pretty intimidating to go and learn on ramps and all that, plus my mom hated leaving me there.

I get the noise concern but it really shouldn't be that significant. Certain people are just going to whine about something anyway, let 'em whine.

[Frequitude]

I'd be pissed if my neighbor installed a ramp and I had to listen to the clanking for a couple hours after work every day. And I used to skateboard. Skateboards are loud as hell.

I'd probably take every step possible to be that fun-crushing grumpy old man bad neighbor who used all legal means necessary to get the thing removed. Just being honest.

[llwhiteoutll]

Put an application process in place. If you make it so the two people on each side of you need to sign off, there won't be any complaints in the future since any concerns will have been dealt with in the application phase.

[Flamenspiel]

hmm, let see, whats the vested interest for the city to approve this? Perhaps to avoid liability costs of public skateboard places....

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

I'd be pissed if my neighbor installed a ramp and I had to listen to the clanking for a couple hours after work every day. And I used to skateboard. Skateboards are loud as hell.

I'd probably take every step possible to be that fun-crushing grumpy old man bad neighbor who used all legal means necessary to get the thing removed. Just being honest.

Kijiji ad: Free skateboard ramp, address:, just come pick it up.

Wait that sounds familiar

[DownInFlames]

This makes me very happy. I have friends who have fought hard for this ban to be lifted. They have kids and share a love of skateboarding.

Ramps aren't any louder than street hockey in most cases, according to research done by the city and CASE. I tried to convince John Mar that planning and noise bylaws were enough to ensure ramps were used respectfully, but he wouldn't accept that. I'm glad Woolley is my Alderman now. He deserves the credit for getting this done.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

This makes me very happy. I have friends who have fought hard for this ban to be lifted. They have kids and share a love of skateboarding.

Ramps aren't any louder than street hockey in most cases, according to research done by the city and CASE. I tried to convince John Mar that planning and noise bylaws were enough to ensure ramps were used respectfully, but he wouldn't accept that. I'm glad Woolley is my Alderman now. He deserves the credit for getting this done.

You can't honestly think that ollie'ing on pavement or landing a skateboard on plywood is the same loudness as (edit: that originally said "much much noisier than"...got messed up with double negatives) street hockey???