Don’t hitch that horse! Park bylaw bans under review

You can’t swear, trap a worm or release too many balloons in city parks. But stay tuned: a review of the city’s sometimes archaic bylaw bans might end up changing the list of ticket-worthy infractions.

HOPE IS ON THE HORIZON for that rare scofflaw who insists on hitching a horse in Hamilton parks.

Ditto for bylaw-breakers dodging persecution for the wilful release of balloons in a public playground, or illegal trapping of worms on the sly.

The city parks department is reviewing these and 524 other ticket-worthy bylaw infractions this year with an eye to culling historical anachronisms, clarifying language and even adding new banned behaviours.

“A quick look suggests to me there are a few obvious updates or tweaks needed,” said new parks manager Kara Bunn. “It’s mostly about cleaning up the language.”

The review comes as the city prepares to move parks bylaw infractions out of the backlogged provincial courts and into a parallel “administrative monetary penalty” system now allowed in Ontario. Hamilton already uses contracted hearing officers under the system to adjudicate disputes over “minor” violations of municipal law like parking tickets and animal control fines.

The list of infractions — which will now come with default fines ranging from $50 to $200 — has been reviewed periodically, particularly after amalgamation cobbled together rules from several towns and cities. But the language in some infractions suggests some golden oldies have repeatedly

escaped the axe.

The “indulge in riotous conduct” infraction ($200) has likely been around a while. Ditto for the ban on hitching your horse to anything in the park ($75) or even using a “tape player” to interfere with the enjoyment of park users ($75).

Bunn says it is possible the horse-hitching language will disappear — “hopefully we don’t spur an influx of horses in parks!” — and she wants to take a closer look at the balloon-release ban, the genesis of which remains a mystery to her. (The specific banned behaviour is the release of “more than nine balloons” within a 24-hour period. So if you must let fly, take your time.)

The six different infractions ($50 each) that ban the killing, attempted killing, maiming, injuring, trapping or relocating of worms in city parks also date back several decades — but will probably stay on the books.

Licensing and bylaw head Ken Leendertse said there used to be a “significant challenge” in preamalgamation Hamilton with “worm pickers” plundering city parks.

The former deputy police chief laughingly recalled being asked as a young uniformed officer to chase trespassing worm thieves out of Chedoke golf course. “I actually remember going out there and watching them run across the parks with their buckets on their ankles, worms flying all over the place,” he said.

The bylaw language could perhaps be made clearer, however. “This is really intended to crack down on people collecting worms for commercial sale,” he said.

“If you have 25 people out there, that’s where you would see an impact on the park ... No one is going to go after little Johnny getting worms to go fishing.”

Bunn said the city will also be looking at clarifying the language in older portions of the bylaw that simply forbid entering park washrooms or change rooms “set apart for the opposite sex.” (Following a human rights tribunal settlement, the city last year approved a new transgender rights protocol that codifies a city pledge to provide washroom access based on self-identified gender identity.)

Bunn said an updated bylawbreaking list will likely include rules to ban dangerous use of drones, which enthusiasts increasingly fly over the heads of sometimes-nervous park users. The proliferation of e-bikes on park trails could also spur new bylaw language.

But changing the language won’t change the reality that most parks bylaw bans never result in fines, noted Leendertse.

He estimated around 200 charges were laid last year under the parks bylaw — and 176 of them resulted from a targeted crackdown on trespassers at newly fenced-off Albion Falls. Otherwise, most parks bylaw charges relate to after-hours trespassing.

“You have a myriad of (infractions) available for every circumstance ... (but) enforcement is largely complaint-driven,” Leendertse said.