On August 7th, 2008 the Salt Lake Valley Health Department passed a new ordinance which prohibits the use of any skate ramps on a residential property. The reasoning they have used to issue this ordinance is based on “Noise Pollution”. The ordinance can be found here on the SLVHD website. It is Regulation # 21, and reads as follows…
4.5.21. Sporting Ramps. No person shall build or use nor shall any person cause, allow, or permit anyone to build or allow anyone to use any skateboard, roller blade, bicycle, or snowboard ramp or half-pipe or similar configuration within 800 feet of a dwelling, except within facilities that have been designated for such use by government entity.
To anyone who has ever used a backyard skateboard ramp, this law was obviously created by people who are ignorant of the noise such a skateboard ramp produces. It would be a specious claim to say that a mini-ramp produces any more noise than a backyard swing set, trampoline, swimming pool, basket ball hoop, children laughing, or a family gathering for a nice summer evening barbeque.
Skateboarding is illegal in most public venues. Now our local council has made it illegal to enjoy this activity in the privacy of your own backyard. Their argument is that anyone who skateboards can now enjoy the several public skateparks that many of the numerous counties, cities, and communities have assembled throughout Utah. For this reason they feel it is only fair that we are prohibited from skating in the privacy of our own backyards. Though it is true that there are several skate parks around the valley, these are not accessible to the majority of skateboarders unless those skateboarders own a car. In addition, many of these skateparks are poorly built, although we’re grateful to have anything we can get. But this is all beside the point anyway. If skateboard ramps are too noisy, why haven’t they made a noise ordinance that states families can no longer enjoy their backyard pools due to the excessive noise? There are public, and community pools to enjoy instead, right? Or perhaps you can no longer shoot hoops in your driveway because the city provides baskets at the neighborhood park, or school? This ordinance unfairly targets skateboarding. Speak up, and voice your opinion in this matter. Let our officials know that you are not willing to stand by and be told that you are no longer able to enjoy skateboarding in the privacy of your backyard. Sign the petition and send a message to our county representatives.
So kids, listen up. Kids! DO NOT send rude messages to these people. Do not call them idiots. Do not call up and flood their phone lines. That is not going to help. If anything, it will just make them mad and make things worse. What you need to do is get your parents involved. These people care about adults because it’s adults who vote and who determine whether these people can keep their jobs or not. Get adults involved writing letters, making phone calls, sending emails, attending public meetings, and that’s how you’ll get this changed.
The link to the petition isn’t working.
I am a 28-year-old homeowner who is planning on building a mini-ramp next spring and I want to get involved in this issue.
So are the kids who buy those X-Games launch ramps at Wal*Mart going to get shut down too? This is crap.
This is crap! You idiots make so much noise and it is so stupid to compare it to swings and pools. It is much louder and annoying then that! I know, I live right next to some idiots doing it. The only good thing is that one of them fell and broke his leg! @#$#$s!
Wow Jeff Moore – saying that some kid fell and broke his leg was a good thang shows how inconsiderate and ignorant you are….skating keeps these kids out of trouble and is growing like crazy. It’s just like any other sport that takes determination, dedication and skill…I think you are just jealous cuz you cant shred like they can…give those youngins a break, put your ear plugs in eh?
“A proud sk8ter mamma….” go to http://www.elementskateboards.com and vote for Morgan Cope for UTAH!!!!
hey dude you suck would you like it if i siad i wish your kid got stabbed in his sleep! #$@#$ YOU @#$# WHOLE!
hey if it’s so much noise move dude quit hating i hope your son breaks his neck how dois that sound? just let’s live our own lives
finding joy in someone else’s suffering. Get a psych evaluation. and really don’t hate a skateboard isn’t that loud you just like to get annoyed from it so you complain and flame up when you here one.
Had any of you ever lived next to one? Sounds and feels like an earthquake and if you have a dog… the barking never stops!
A backyard skateboard ramp makes the same noise as a swing set or a trampoline? It’s obvious you don’t wear a helmet and have fallen on your head a few too many times. Do you honestly think people are stupid enough to believe your crap? I live next door to one of these ramps and have to live with the noise, beer, dope, under aged kids skating till 3:00 am!! You skaters have no respect for anyone! I’m setting up a tone generator and will be giving my neighbor a taste of his own medicine with a 17000 hertz tone that will clean the wax out of their inconsiderate ears.
you suck go get a life
Same old utah BS.Only place in the US to prohibits ramps. Maybe the state can make them pri. ramps. You cant buy a membership to skate and they can tax it.
Does any one know if this regulation has or will be amended. I was trying if find out but the department of health will not answer my questions. Thank you
dud skateing rules for all you bikers out there suck it
I read the story, and was sorry to hear about the ordinance. I love to skate, but I also know many homeowners who don’t appreciate the noise factor. Our community in Texas listened to both sides, and the park and recreation facility paid to put in noise reduction material on the underside of the public skate ramps. It completely made a huge difference in silencing the noise from the skaters. It doesn’t sound like someone is shutting the lid to a dumpster over and over when a skater drops in anymore. So, now, the neighbors by the park are happy, and the skaters still get to have all their fun. The material came in long rectangular sheets that stuck right on to the surface it was applied to, and the installers said it was something that is used to line the back of the ramps to deaden the sound. It looked like it was some kind of foam with an outer metallic lining, and I think it is sometimes used in car stereo or audio systems. The installers worked for the American Ramp Company or ARC. Maybe the ordinance could be ammended and as long as noise reduction material was used on the ramps, then the ramp owners could still have their fun without annoying the neighbors with the noise produced by skating. That would be a win-win for everyone, and skaters would use the material if it meant they could keep their ramps and have fun. I would install it in my backyard mini half pipe if it meant I could keep my ramp and have my own skating fun.
It is insanely loud where I live. There’s a ramp on a plywood platform in the backyard near us, and honestly, I never mind skateboarders but I cannot believe HOW LOUD this is. I can close all the windows, put on my noise-cancelling headphones with my IPOD on loud and still hear it. I’ve never been bother by a band living next door, a daycare across the street, etc… To compare this ENORMOUS skateboard ramp and its accompanying noise to a swingset really is insane.
If I had a soundmeter, I could give ratings. I don’t really undrestnad why people would think it is okay to do this to neighbors. I can’t use my back deck at all on ANY EVENING after work becuase it is always noisy. We are renters in a duplex, and seriously, this kind of thing might cause us to move.
I pay $2500 for my monthly rent and have to listen to insanely loud noise pollution. I really do not understandy how people can say that it isn’t noisy.
Maybe my neighbors built it wrong. It’s an enormous wooden half-pipe – very tall and wide on a wooden platform.
Holy cow, the noise must be able to be hear from half a block away. And this is prety dense neighborhood -half apartments, half houses, lots of green yards..
Wish we had the same ordinances here in WA. I’ve lived next door to this nonsense for almost four years now. So inconsiderate.
I completely understand that these kids could be doing something worse and skating is good for them, I just wish they’d do it somewhere else. Or at least stop after a reasonable amount of time. The noise is awful.
A little off the subject maybe, but a request for you to consider the ethics of purchasing cheap trampolines. Please try and think about, for example, the things the product is manufactured with, the conditions of the employees where they’re manufactured and the green credentials of the retailer. Oh, and endeavour to repair your trampoline instead of throwing away. Thanks!!!!
Skateboarders are a bunch of inconsiderate morons! These ramps should be banned in every city in the country, there is no place for these in a residential neighborhood, they only belong in a secluded area or public park!
i have 2 neighbors who have skate board ramps and they make no more noise than the people with a trampoline, or the other people that have a horrible band and play till all hours of the night, or the kids running in the front street playing and yelling and when they do skate its only for a 1 or 3 hour session they are very respectful never skate past 10 pm which it the noise ordnance around here so they aren’t doing anything illegal, and Ive owned my home for 3 years and 2 years ago they put the first ramp in. Not much different but the second ramp was much louder i asked them if there was any way to make it less noisy… they where very CONSIDERATE and said yea we can put another layer on it and that should help… and sure as shit it did. so to all of you guys giving skaters a bad rap fuck off
I am a skater, homeowner, and professional. I want to build a mini pipe but am confused about all this. did it go through. Does any body have a mini half they wanna session. if so email me. Im dying for a wooden mini. Please email me, I wanna ride untill i have th funds to build my own.
thanks
THomas
I might have a solution for you Utahns that have a ramp and have no where to ride. Please email me at mmedalla@yahoo.com for more info thank you.
TWO SOLUTIONS:
MOST LAWS LIKE THIS; ARE COMPLAINT ONLY LAWS. GET YOUR NEIGHBORS WRITTEN PERMISSION THREE HOUSES
ON EACH SIDE , AND OVER THE BACK FENCE. THEN WRITE THE CITY ATTORNEY WITH COPY OF THEIR PERMISSION AND ASK THAT THE ORDINANCE BE ENFORCED ON A COMPLAINT ONLY BASES.
THAT MEANS YOU CAN NOT BECOME PARTY CENTRAL , AND YOU MUST KEEP THE NOISE TO A MINIMUM, AND BE POLITE. THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO HAVE YOUR RAMPS!
2ND:
SUE the BAS***** many young attorneys will jump at the chance to do this for for free ,
for the name recognition. One of the best is Tibbitts. STEVE YOUNG COULD GET THE LAW CHANGED IN TWO MINUETS ON NATIONAL TV.
THERE IS A TIME TO FLOOD THE CITY ATTORNEYS ,AND YOU DISTRICT REPS. AND THAT IS ONCE ONE OF THIS ACTIONS HAS BEEN STARTED!!!!
you pussies that hate skateboarding are complete fools, I’m glad it annoys you suckers because you deserve to be annoyed when I skate.
sKATEBOARDING FTW
I’m a longtime Sk8r, but I can also understand where the noise pollution complainers are coming from. There are several different ways to “soundproof” a ramp, and if all skate ramp builders soundproofed their ramps, I think we would have a lot less trouble with neighbors and anti-skate legislation. Ramp Plans Dot Org seems to have the most comprehensive list of soundproofing techniques, but just about every ramp building website/book I’ve seen has at least a few tips.
Good luck to ALL.
This is from RampPlans.org’s FAQ:
2.19.
How can I make a half pipe quiet?
This is a tough question, so this answer is somewhat of a list of guesses. You can close up the back of the halfpipe we did this and it seemed to help a little. Fill in the back of the halfpipe with some sort of sound deadening material. Dirt is probably the cheapest and would work the best. We’re pretty sure if you fill up the back of a halfpipe with dirt this will work really well. Add layers of sound deadening material between the layers of your substrate, such as tar paper for roofing. Use a surfacing or substrate material that deadens sound, polyboard would be a very good choice.
If you have experience with any of these solutions or know of others, please let us know how it went so we can get this question answered better.
Brian Pittman had some good things to add:
At some point your half pipe just gets too big to use dirt to reduce sound. Unless you’re really psyched about moving mounds of dirt I’d advise against it. Putting dirt up against the wood has the added disadvantage of encouraging all kinds of wood-eating bugs, mold, and mildew. And if you’ve got a permanent or semi-permanent structure in mind (more than 1 or 2 years) you’ve got to stick with solutions that provide longevity.
When I permitted my ramp, the local city recognized sound as a potential issue and required me to close in the back of my ramp with plywood. This is the strategy at just about all Vans skate parks. At about $6 to $10 per sheet, just buy 1/4 inch ply and slap it up. For my 16 foot wide halfpipe, it took six sheets on the back and three for the sides, so about $70 for each side. An 8 foot wide mini ramp may come in at $50 for both sides. [ Thanks to Brian Pittman ]
Another cheaper option is to scrounge around carpet store dumpsters and staple discarded carpet scraps in 4- or 8-foot sections to the back of the ramp. Carpet is about the best noise insulator you can find – just ask your neighborhood garage band. [ Bud Stratford, reports that this method worked very well! ] Just do yourself a favor and avoid carpet scraps that are saturated with dog piss.
[Another] good cheap way of sound proofing a mini-ramp or half pipe is by standing up old mattresses. They are usually easy to find. Just ask around for people getting a new bed. [Thanks Slade Buddy]
Another idea involves the hollow-metal sound that you get when you grind steel coping. You can fill the coping with sand, and plug the ends with dowels. That cuts down on coping noise a lot…. [Thanks to Bud Stratford, Muncie IN USA ]
Posit L had this to add:
if you use a barrier of plastic between the bottom of ramp and the backfilled dirt for sound deadening it will help to combat insects and mildew.
The main thing you need to do in order to silence a mini is to shut the coping up. sand works but fill it with concrete, make a watery slurry, stand coping up, plug one end and pour in other from off ladder. Since it is so heavy now you can keep it in place with plumbers tape (bendy metal strap with holes) on the last inch or so, were nobody grinds.
Don’t forget to “vibrate” it, you can use a piece of all thread or rebar, just ream it in there and slush it all around, you don’t want any air pockets. enjoy also its best to use construction grout,(no rocks in the mix) about 8 bucks a bag, one bag should do a 12′ wide mini.