Flower Hill village trustees on Monday approved a local law banning skateboarding from Colony Lane following months of hearings and complaints from residents seeking to ban the activity from the roadway and neighboring community.
The new law grants the Board of Trustees the authority to ban skateboarding and longboarding – a form of skateboarding that utilizes a longer board and larger wheels for increased speed and sharp turns, albeit with limited potential for tricks – along village roadways where such activity could threaten public safety.
In the future, the board would have the ability to add new roadways to the local law by resolution, rather than a hearing process.
First-time violators of the law could be fined up to $250, while each violation thereafter would carry a maximum $500 fine.
The law was drafted in wake of a village board meeting in July during which Colony Drive residents complained about the frequency with which skateboarders use the roadway, which has a downhill slope considered ideal for skateboarding.
Teenagers in attendance at the meeting said the complaints were exaggerated and that they have been respectful of village property while skating.
Residents at subsequent hearings have questioned whether the law would be strict enough, as it would not outright ban skateboarding from the village.
Flower Hill is not the first Manhasset village to implement a skateboarding ban.
Last June, the Village of Plandome approved a local law allowing the board of trustees to ban the activity from various village roads.
Plandome’s initial ban was on Rockwood Road, Longridge Road, Woodedge Road, Park Woods Road and Dogwood Road. Roadways could be added to the law by resolution.
Flower Hill officials have said the its skateboarding law was modeled after the one in Plandome as well as others on Long Island.
A hearing set for Flower Hill’s trustees meeting in January was postponed after the board learned the legal notice of the hearing was not published in all three of the village’s official newspapers, published by Anton Publications.
