DECLARING A WAR ON FUN
Community bans activity on street
Vandy Noble is a grandmother, a mother, a 66-yearold retiree and, she adds, a baker of delicious cookies with chocolate chip as her specialty. The treats are for the neighbourhood kids. Wee, and not-so-wee tots, about a dozen in all, who live in Artisan Gardens, a sleepy neighbourhood in Chemainus, B.C., mostly populated by retirees with a smattering of young families mixed in.
“I enjoy watching the kids play — and I love having them over for cookies," Noble said. “And I do feel sorry for the kids.”
Here’s why: on June 26, Artisan Gardens, which operates as a strata — residents own their lots and share common property — voted 15-4 in favour of adopting a bylaw that, wait for it, reads as follows:
“Any use of a roadway for any purpose other than access to and from strata lots and, where permitted, for parking is prohibited. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a roadway may not be used for play, including hockey, baseball, basketball, skateboarding, chalk artistry, bicycling or other sports and recreational activities.”
In other words: the wee, and not-so-wee tots of Artisan Gardens have, in effect, been banned from enjoying any outdoor fun, at least on the community roadway. It is a draconian step that blindsided Christa Howard, whose daughter, Sophia, is three.
“I didn’t expect the bylaw to pass,” she said. “We have never had any issues with the neighbours."
Noble, the kindly grandma, is vice-president of the strata council — she liked the sound of “vice-president” better than “secretary,” and stuck with it — and voted against the bylaw. She is the only member of the board willing to speak publicly about the ban, which, she said, sprang from a genuine concern for the kids’ safety, but went haywire in its scope and execution.
“There is a blind corner here, and so there had been a few near misses with cars with the kids riding their bikes,” she said. “People were up in arms over it, and so that was the biggest concern by far.”
“But the bylaw is a bit harsh. We’re trying to calm down the situation and reach a compromise.”
Howard, however, is finding it impossible to remain calm, as are the other young families in the area. She describes herself as someone who has never protested anything in her life, mostly because she is shy. But, of late, she has been talking to local radio stations, newspapers, going on social media and hollering, in an utterly sane way, about a nonsense bylaw that is a throwback to all the other nonsense bylaws (remember Toronto’s ball hockey ban?) that have come and, thankfully, mostly gone over the years.
“I won’t back down,” she said. “When it comes to my child, momma bear comes out.”
Sophia Howard, according to her mother — never plays outside without parental supervision. As most kids do, she has been learning to ride her bike on the road in front of her family home on Askew Creek Drive, in between stretches of playing police and transporting water balloons to the next door neighbour’s yard.
Sophia also enjoys “chalk artistry.”
“All the kids are very road smart,” Howard said. “Even our two-year-old neighbour yells ‘car’ when she sees one coming.”
Howard has no intention of observing the bylaw, unless it can be amended to be more kid friendly. Noble, the vicepresident of the council, is busy seeking a compromise, though suggests there may be a simpler solution for all parties involved.
“Yes, there are a lot more seniors living here, but the kids are what gives this place life,” she said. “And if the older residents wanted a more adult-oriented neighbourhood — maybe they should choose to live somewhere else.”