A bylaw amendment that saw first reading at last month’s council meeting will not make it to second and third reading at tonight’s meeting of Sackville Town Council.
The proposed amendment to Sackville’s streets bylaw would have turfed the ban on skateboards on town streets.
A report from town clerk Donna Beal says that, “after receiving information from the town’s insurance provider, further review is needed, and it is likely that subsequent discussions will be required.”
The report says the bylaw amendment is expected back on council’s agenda for the April special meeting of council, before going to second and third reading the following week.
The bylaw change made first reading in February, and proposed to remove the section of Sackville’s streets bylaw that bans skateboards outright from streets and sidewalks. It also added skateboards alongside roller blades and bicycles, which are both allowed on Sackville streets, but not on sidewalks.
The first reading of the bylaw change in February sparked debate on local social media, with many expressing concern that the change would create safety issues, and others saying they were happy that the longstanding ban was being addressed, and that skateboards posed similar safety issues to bikes, which are allowed on streets.
Warktimes reported in February that a representative from the Canada Safety Council, a non-governmental organization dedicated to safety, warned Sackville town council not to make the change.
Councillor Andrew Black is part of the policy and bylaw liaison group, and so has been involved in the discussions around the bylaw amendments. Black acknowledges that there are risks to skateboarding, but believes those should be left to individuals to manage. He’s also pointed out that skateboarding is an active transportation mode which doesn’t use fossil fuels.
Though Black supports lifting the ban, he’s also anxious for council to properly discuss the safety issues, which it did not do at first reading, he says.
“I would hate to think that council would make a decision on this, and not have all of the information and then go back and think oh, man, what do we just do?” he told CHMA in February.
Black says that although bylaw changes in Sackville do not require formal public consultation, it is something that can happen if council decides it’s needed.
“Certainly if council or town staff and council decides that it might be needed, then that’s something that would we would talk about and make a decision as council,” said Black.
In the meantime, clerk Donna Beal says the town will looking into “risk management issues” raised by the town’s insurance company before the matter is brought back for discussion, likely at the special council meeting on Tuesday, April 6.