Quebec backyard ice rink ordered closed in rare affront to Canada's game
A hockey brawl has broken out in Sherbrooke, Que., after a resident says he was told to tear down his backyard ice rink because it contravened city bylaws.
And not even the love of hockey and the warm, fuzzy sense of Canadian heritage one receives from tales of backyard skating rinks can save it.
The melee began with a complaint from a neighbour who contacted city officials, who then decided the structure broke city protocol. They issued a very un-Canadian order that the ice rink would have to be destroyed.
TVA Nouvelles reported on Monday that Jean-Christophe Bossé was ordered by the city to remove his backyard ice rink because it violated local bylaws.
The rink, 15 metres long by 12 metres wide, was built in the back yard of his home. Yet according to a notice of violation he received on Dec. 2, such an installation is not allowed under district zoning bylaws. He was also warned that the light and noise the ice rink caused could be considered intrusive.
It is rare, especially in hockey-loving Canada, to battle over the legality of an ice rink built on private property, though other iterations have stirred controversy in cities streets. In communities across the Greater Toronto Area, street hockey is prohibited, though officials tend turn their heads.
But this is not that. When it is played on private property, Canada’s game is largely secure.
Indeed, one of the few recorded clashes over a backyard rink happened not in Canada , but the U.S.
In 2012, a Cambridge, Mass., resident was ordered to remove a hockey rink he had built for his two young children.
Six citations were leveled against him, mostly relating to ensuring health and safety. Notably, the infraction came during an unseasonably warm winter, and occasionally the city referred to the ice rink as a swimming pool. The matter was eventually dropped by the city.
For the most part, backyard ice rinks are not prohibited by Canadian bylaws. Officers and media contacts in several communities noted there were no regulations about rinks on private property.
At most, a city might have guidelines on the size and type of structures allowed.
Brampton, Ont., for example, limits “accessory structures” to two per home, in the back yard, with a combined maximum size of 20 square metres. Such structures include children’s play areas, but even that rule doesn’t relate to ice rinks.
In Toronto, the city says that backyard rinks are indeed legal:
"A backyard ice rink is legal as long as it is used for personal use only and not commercial use," said a city spokesperson.
"If an ice rink is used for a recreational purpose, then it is no different than any other recreational use of the back yard."
Indeed, one of the most prominent battles over backyard rinks played out in Canada three years ago, when a former NHLer announced his plans to build a 4,500-square-foot backyard rink.
The National Post reported that Fernando Pisani, a former player with the Edmonton Oilers, built a rink half the size of an official NHL rink in his yard outside St. Albert, Alta.
The battle that followed wasn’t about bylaws – he had checked and there were no issues – but about his neighbours, who were upset at the massive size. A local appeals board eventually approved Pisani’s massive rink.
In the Sherbrooke case, it is not entirely clear that bylaws specifically rule against backyard rinks. A request for clarification from city officials has not been returned, but Bossé told CBC News the citation leveled against him quoted a bylaw that outlawed rinks intended for mixed commercial and residential use.
Still, he elected to remove his rink. Which is a shame. Based on the brief history of legal battles over private rinks, the rinks tend to win.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...ce-rink-ordered-closed-in-rare-190814249.html
A hockey brawl has broken out in Sherbrooke, Que., after a resident says he was told to tear down his backyard ice rink because it contravened city bylaws.
And not even the love of hockey and the warm, fuzzy sense of Canadian heritage one receives from tales of backyard skating rinks can save it.
The melee began with a complaint from a neighbour who contacted city officials, who then decided the structure broke city protocol. They issued a very un-Canadian order that the ice rink would have to be destroyed.
TVA Nouvelles reported on Monday that Jean-Christophe Bossé was ordered by the city to remove his backyard ice rink because it violated local bylaws.
The rink, 15 metres long by 12 metres wide, was built in the back yard of his home. Yet according to a notice of violation he received on Dec. 2, such an installation is not allowed under district zoning bylaws. He was also warned that the light and noise the ice rink caused could be considered intrusive.
It is rare, especially in hockey-loving Canada, to battle over the legality of an ice rink built on private property, though other iterations have stirred controversy in cities streets. In communities across the Greater Toronto Area, street hockey is prohibited, though officials tend turn their heads.
But this is not that. When it is played on private property, Canada’s game is largely secure.
Indeed, one of the few recorded clashes over a backyard rink happened not in Canada , but the U.S.
In 2012, a Cambridge, Mass., resident was ordered to remove a hockey rink he had built for his two young children.
Six citations were leveled against him, mostly relating to ensuring health and safety. Notably, the infraction came during an unseasonably warm winter, and occasionally the city referred to the ice rink as a swimming pool. The matter was eventually dropped by the city.
For the most part, backyard ice rinks are not prohibited by Canadian bylaws. Officers and media contacts in several communities noted there were no regulations about rinks on private property.
At most, a city might have guidelines on the size and type of structures allowed.
Brampton, Ont., for example, limits “accessory structures” to two per home, in the back yard, with a combined maximum size of 20 square metres. Such structures include children’s play areas, but even that rule doesn’t relate to ice rinks.
In Toronto, the city says that backyard rinks are indeed legal:
"A backyard ice rink is legal as long as it is used for personal use only and not commercial use," said a city spokesperson.
"If an ice rink is used for a recreational purpose, then it is no different than any other recreational use of the back yard."
Indeed, one of the most prominent battles over backyard rinks played out in Canada three years ago, when a former NHLer announced his plans to build a 4,500-square-foot backyard rink.
The National Post reported that Fernando Pisani, a former player with the Edmonton Oilers, built a rink half the size of an official NHL rink in his yard outside St. Albert, Alta.
The battle that followed wasn’t about bylaws – he had checked and there were no issues – but about his neighbours, who were upset at the massive size. A local appeals board eventually approved Pisani’s massive rink.
In the Sherbrooke case, it is not entirely clear that bylaws specifically rule against backyard rinks. A request for clarification from city officials has not been returned, but Bossé told CBC News the citation leveled against him quoted a bylaw that outlawed rinks intended for mixed commercial and residential use.
Still, he elected to remove his rink. Which is a shame. Based on the brief history of legal battles over private rinks, the rinks tend to win.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...ce-rink-ordered-closed-in-rare-190814249.html
