Council Votes to Allow Scooters in Skatepark

Skateboarders and scooter riders will soon have to learn to get along and equally share the skatepark in Scotts Valley.

The Scotts Valley City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday night to change the city ordinance regarding the Tim Brauch Memorial Skatepark in Scotts Valley to allow scooters to join skateboards and skates as acceptable types of equipment to be used in the park.

“We have an obligation to make our public park facilities available to as many people as possible,” Council member Jim Reed said.

The issue of skateboarders versus scooter riders has become bigger in the past month and a half after many children received scooters for Christmas and started using them more frequently at the skatepark. On Dec. 27, police went to the skatepark following a complaint that there were scooter riders and the scooter riders were asked to leave.

Currently, the city ordinance does not allow scooters in the park. However, scooters are not technically disallowed either. When the park was built, scooters were not used as much as they are today so, according to Park and Recreation Division Manager Conrad Sudduth, they were never discussed as an option for the park. Sudduth said that skateboarders and scooter riders have been using the park together for years though.

“We have two groups that want to use one of our facilities,” Sudduth said. “They are not fighting over what video game they are going to play, they are arguing over wanting time to be out there and be active.”

At a , numerous people, including many young kids, spoke on the issue. Many of those same people addressed the council on Wednesday and the issues where the same, with park etiquette and safety being the main things people are concerned about.

Many of the older skateboarders feel that the younger scooter riders don’t know or follow the rules and etiquette of the park, and the scooter riders say that they are harassed and bullied by skateboarders when using the park.

“Basically, the skateboarders threaten us. There are some really mean ones that just yell at us, cuss at us, throw their boards at us, and tell us to get out of the park,” said Scotts Valley Middle School student Wayne Evans, 11. “With that happening, most of the scooter kids don’t go to the skatepark anymore and we are out on the street.”

Scotts Valley Middle School student and scooter rider, Trevor Theissen, 13, who is "super excited" about the council's decision said that he feels the issue really comes down to following proper etiquette.

“It’s definitely a problem and the younger kids do need to be taught,” he said. “It’s not something we should ignore.”

Trevor said that since hearing at the parks and recreation meeting about the need for the older kids to step up and be role models, he has been taking the younger kids under his wing and trying to teach them the proper way to ride and act at the park.

“I try and teach the kids that if they don’t get in the skaters’ way, the skaters won’t get mad at them,” he said. “I do understand that a lot of the smaller kids do get in the way, but if a lot of the older kids come together and try to teach them, I think we could all learn to ride together.”

Adult skateboarder Patrick Heaviside said that the issue is much bigger and is concerned that allowing scooters could open the door to other types of equipment, such as bicycles, at the park.

“My main concern is that there is a law in place and the laws are there to protect,” Heaviside said. “Are we going to set a precedent where if you don’t like the law you can break it, and eventually with the outcry get enough people behind it to where you can overturn what you where doing illegally anyway?”

But council members all felt that the park is public and should belong to anyone and everyone who wants to use it.

“There is a huge opportunity here for people to get along,” Council member Randy Johnson said. “A skatepark that is 20,000 feet is plenty big enough for people to get along. Ultimately, if we educate, we’ll see that happen in a very nice way.”

Mayor Donna Lind said she was disappointed to hear of the harassment and confrontation taking place at the park and urged the older kids to teach the younger ones how to use the park.

“I hope that some of the older scooter [riders] that talked about mentoring the younger scooter [riders] really meant it because I think that is going to be key,” Lind said. “I really hope that our skateboarders will mentor as well and not make our park one that needs more and more police presence.”

Along with changing the ordinance to allow for scooters at the park, the council asked that a provision be made to establish groups of scooter riders and skateboarders to work together and with the parks and recreation department to create better rules and etiquette for the park. The council would also like to a have clear definition of what constitutes a scooter and a skateboard to add into the ordinance.

Council members will approve the language of the ordinance at its next meeting on Feb. 15. The ordinance will take 30 days after that to go into effect, so essentially, scooter riders have 45 days until they become official at the park.

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