Several residents, including children, told West University Place officials that enforcing an ordinance that would treat basketball hoop goals as structures requiring a permit would take away what makes the community special.
How we got here
During a field inspection for the Poor Farm Ditch project, staff noted a permanently installed basketball goal in the right of way at the end of a dead-end street. Officials determined that the hoop violated a city ordinance requiring permits for such structures and that it was illegally installed. The realization kick-started a conversation with City Council on whether or not to regulate basketball hoops in the city.
Officials also inspected all of the cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets in the city and found that nine locations had basketball hoops, and eight out of the nine were mobile hoops that could be rolled away.
Notices of violations were sent out to adjacent residents where all goals were located because it was difficult to determine to whom the goals belonged, city officials said.
The discussion
West U Public Works Director Michael Leech said there were no previous enforcement actions of this type in the city, so there is no history on how these issues have been handled. However, council members questioned whether it would be an obstruction for public safety officials to get by.
West U Fire Chief James Novak said that as a fire marshal, he has never addressed an issue with a hoop in the way.
“If we did have one in the way, it was generally a rolling that we could move,” Novak said. “If there were cars parked in the street and then we need to get an ambulance or a fire truck in that area, I absolutely would look at it as an obstruction.”
What residents are saying
Most residents who spoke at the March 23 meeting said that they felt the basketball goals were a good addition to the neighborhood and no one had any issues with them.
Resident Priya Rao agreed with Novak. Rao said that only three homes are on their cul-de-sac, and the basketball hoop in their area is not a nuisance, but car street parking is.
“We had construction going on for over two years, and we had cars blocking our street up and down,” Rao said. “We've called the police multiple times because we weren't able to get out of our houses, and nobody came and ticketed anybody, and yet, here we are [discussing] ticketing for a basketball hoop.”
Adam Laird, another West U resident, said his children and other children on his street enjoy using the basketball hoop in their dead-end street, and it shouldn’t be treated as an issue.
“I don't think that there's really much of an issue, but I'd also support it if there was a variance, or some way to maybe clarify that a mobile basketball hoop is not a structure as it relates to the city code,” he said.
What to expect
Leech said the department would hold off on enforcing the violations until after March 23. However, City Council voted to pause making a decision and referred the issue to the Zoning & Planning Commission, whose meetings are the second Thursday of each month.
