At tonight's meeting, the Laguna Beach City Council is expected to:
- Vote on a proposal for an ordinance that would let the city confiscate skateboards for violations of skateboarding regulations. (The proposed text is below).
- Vote on a proposal to contact counterparts in the cities of San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and St. Ives, Cornwall, England in an effort to make them Laguna Beach Sister Cities and Friendship Cities.
- Direct staff to obtain proposals for preliminary design for a sidewalk and bikeway along the easterly side of Laguna Canyon Road through the Big Bend area, and to return to the City Council with proposals no later than December.
- Direct staff to work with Southern California Edison on options for undergrounding all overhead utilities along Laguna Canyon Road, and return to the City Council with undergrounding and sidewalk options in six months.
There will also be the usual grab-bag of approvals of minutes, denials of claims, awardings of contracts, receiving of reports, stuff about stuff, and much, much more!
The Fab Five meet at 6 p.m. in council chambers at . Click here to view the complete agenda and click here to watch the meeting live on the Internet.
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SUBJECT: PROPOSED ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING CONFISCATION OF SKATEBOARDS
SUMMARY OF THE MATTER:
On April 5, 2011, the City Council passed a comprehensive set of skateboarding regulations that became law thirty days later. Altogether, eighteen new Municipal Code sections were enacted. Among other provisions, Chapter 10.15 included: a restriction on skateboarding to daylight hours; a helmet requirement; a prohibition on acrobatics, luge, sitting or lying on the skateboard; and a speed limit.
Since that time, concerns continue to be raised by many members of the community about unsafe acts and a disregard for local regulations by numerous skateboarders. In order to emphasize the importance of compliance with the new regulations, the City Council is being asked to consider directing the City Manager to prepare an ordinance that provides enforcement staff the authority to confiscate skateboards when specific conditions are met.
The City Attorney, following brief research efforts, was able to locate regulations in four California cities that authorize confiscation, and more cities likely exist. The cities of Malibu and Belvedere grant confiscation authority for general skateboarding violations citywide while the cities of South Gate and Poway limit confiscation to violations within their skate parks.
It is suggested that the ordinance require that confiscated skateboards be held for one week upon a first violation and one month for subsequent violations. Additionally, in order for skateboard to be released to someone under the age of 18, a parent would have to be present.
Confiscation of skateboards will initially require additional staff time to handle skateboards. However, the goals of the confiscation program are to achieve compliance with the ordinance, improve safety in the community, and reduce the amount of future staff time on this matter.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended by Councilmembers Iseman and Pearson that the City Council direct the City Manager to prepare an ordinance granting City enforcement staff the authority to confiscate skateboards.
Submitted by: Councilmembers Pearson and Iseman
