The municipality is moving swiftly to stop people from tobogganing at two popular locations in town after a risk assessment deemed the areas unfit for play.
Snape鈥檚 Hill, located along Willow Avenue, and the church hill, located on the corner of Pyramid Lake Road and Bonhomme Street, will be closed for tobogganing within days.
On Jan. 16, a risk consultant visited Jasper and strongly recommended the municipality close both areas and make improvements to Centennial Park, which will remain open for tobogganing.
Mark Fercho, the town鈥檚 chief administrative officer, acknowledged it will be difficult for some people to accept, but said ignoring the risk was simply not an option.
鈥淲e got the risk assessment done yesterday and these risks were pointed out as something we should deal with immediately,鈥� Fercho said, during a council meeting on Jan. 17.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about the money, it鈥檚 about understanding that there is a risk because once you start down that hill in a high speed plastic device as a small child and a big truck happens to be coming, you鈥檙e committed, there鈥檚 nothing you can do.鈥�
Bruce Thompson, director of operations, echoed Fercho鈥檚 comments.
鈥淚t would be very awkward for us to become aware of a risk and not do anything about it,鈥� said Thompson, adding that he isn鈥檛 aware of any legal claims against the municipality related to tobogganing.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 that I don鈥檛 want people to have fun tobogganing, it鈥檚 just that one in a million chance that someone is going to get hurt.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檝e been using these two locations for years and I think up to this point we鈥檝e been quite fortunate.鈥�
According to Thompson, both areas currently spill out onto roads and there is a fire hydrant on the church hill.
To close the areas he said the town will install temporary snow fences across each hill to stop people from sliding and install signage warning users that tobogganing is prohibited. The signs will also encourage people to use the hill at Centennial Park.
Mayor Richard Ireland accepted the risk assessment, but questioned how the risk associated with tobogganing differed from a bike park or a skate park.
鈥淩isk is a part of what we do every day, but it鈥檚 a matter of what is an acceptable risk,鈥� said Fercho, in response to the mayor鈥檚 question.
鈥淲ith a skate park or a mountain bike park as long as we ensure the parks are designed and built to an industry standard and that the people going into the park are aware of the risk and use proper protective equipment and the park is properly maintained, then as a municipality we have set ourselves up where someone can do something that is a bit risky, but assumed an acceptable amount of risk.鈥�
Coun. Gilbert Wall also questioned whether the town should be held responsible for undesignated activities in town.
鈥淲here do you stop putting up fences and signs and where do you leave it up to personal responsibility?鈥� asked Wall.
Fercho said administration will present the full risk assessment report to council in the near future.
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
