Skateboarding in the City

Skateboarding and inline skating are permitted on most City sidewalks and residential streets, as long as you wear a helmet. Bylaw No. 6234 makes a helmet required for anyone skateboarding or inline skating on City streets, public open spaces, skateboard parks, and all other City parks.

There are also streets where absolutely no skateboarding is allowed. Learn more below or in our Skateboarding Regulations (PDF).

Skateboarding / Longboarding / Rollerblading Guidelines & Restrictions

The City promotes and encourages non-motorized forms of transportation, including walking, cycling, skateboarding/longboarding, and rollerblading.

For safety reasons, when boarding or blading, users must:

Wear a helmet (except when wearing a helmet would interfere with a religious practice)
Board or blade as close to the right side of the roadway or lane as is practicable
Not use roadways or lanes where the speed limit exceeds 50 km/hr
Not board or blade between sunset and sunrise

At times, non-motorized transportation modes can conflict with each other or with motorized transportation, posing safety hazards for users. As a result, the City has identified streets where skateboarding/longboarding and rollerblading would be unsafe i.e. streets where there are significant differences in speeds between different modes, where traffic volumes are heavy, or where there are steep slopes. As per the City's Streets and Traffic Bylaw No. 6243, boarding and blading are not permitted on any of the streets described in Schedule I of the bylaw unless the street has been closed to traffic.

The following is also a summary of streets and plazas where boarding and blading are strictly prohibited on both street and sidewalk:

Lonsdale Avenue from 25th Street (Upper Levels Highway) to Carrie Cates Court (the water)
Esplanade from Forbes Avenue to St George's Avenue
Carrie Cates Court from Lonsdale Avenue to Chesterfield Avenue
Chadwick Court
Chesterfield Place
Marine Drive from Bewicke Avenue to MacKay Road
13th Street from Lonsdale Avenue to St George's Avenue
15th Street from St. George's Avenue to Chesterfield Avenue
14th Street Civic Plaza
19th Street between Moody Avenue and Ridgeway Avenue
St. Roch Dock
Burrard Dry Dock Pier
Goldsworthy Pier
Roger's Plaza

Under the Street and Traffic Bylaw, the fine for boarding or blading without a helmet is $50. The fine for contravening the other stipulations described above is $100.

To report a boarding offence, please contact Bylaws at 604-982-8302, Monday to Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre Skate Park

A skate park is located at the Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre (HJCRC), which was completed in 2026. The skate park features benches, rails, steps, banks and a 7-ft-tall, 40-ft-long “wall ride” built into the exterior of the community centre. A viewing and seating area is also available for spectators.

Learn more about the HJCRC project at cnv.org/HJCRC.

Mahon Skate Plaza

In early 2022, Council approved a proposal for a skate area at Mahon Park for the community to use during construction of the new HJCRC. In May, we engaged with skateboard community members and residents on preliminary design concepts. Construction took place in summer 2022. A big thanks to local company RDS for their support and generous contributions to the project, including the long granite ledge, granite benches, and barriers.

Mahon Skate Plaza Design & Features

The Mahon Skate Plaza opened in September 2022. The skate plaza is a permanent feature in Mahon Park with opportunities for all skill levels. It features a simple, street-focused design links together well-spaced obstacles.

Mahon Skate Park final concept - feature map