Dozens of children in snow pants and winter jackets used garbage bags and cardboard boxes to slide down Snape’s Hill Jan. 20 in defiance of the municipality’s decision to close the popular tobogganing area.
Despite a sign indicating tobogganing was prohibited, parents brought cupcakes wrapped in over-protective bubble wrap and hot chocolate to the grassroots event to express their discontent about the decision. A petition demanding the municipality reconsider its decision was also circulated.
“This is an important recreational area in the west end of Jasper,” said Wendy Hall, the organizer of the event. “They can take the toboggans away, but they can’t take away the hill.”
She said the municipality should have engaged residents to try and figure out a way to make the areas safer instead of immediately closing them.
“If it’s been deemed a risk, let’s figure out a way it’s not a risk so our kids can still be outside playing.”
Earlier in the week administration decided to close Snape’s Hill, located allong Willow Avenue, and the church hill, located on the corner of Pyramid Lake Road and Bonhomme Street, after an independent risk consultant strongly recommended the municipality take immediate action to address safety concerns. Both hills spill out onto roads and there are signs and a fire hydrant in the tobogganers’ path.
The hill at Centennial Park remains open for use.
51°µÍř of the closures was widely condemned by residents on social media and as of Jan. 23 more than 200 people had signed the petition.
Christina Petluk-Byrd said she decided to start the petition after her five-year-old stepson broke down in tears when he heard he wouldn’t be allowed to play there anymore.
“Our little boy was really upset because we go there everyday. When he heard he wasn’t allowed to go there anymore he cried until bedtime so I promised him I’d do something,” said Petluk-Byrd. “I’m tearing up just thinking about it.”
Petluk-Byrd said she was shocked by the news.
“Tobogganing is something that I think everyone has done as a kid so to have someone police it just seems really bizarre,” said Petluk-Byrd. “Every winter activity comes with a risk. It’s slippery, it’s wet, everyone is going to get hurt at some point, but it’s really up to the users’ discretion whether they want to take that risk.”
Her comments were widely shared by other parents at the event who described the decision as a “knee-jerk reaction.”
“We love this hill and there are a lot of different things we could have come up with to ensure that our kids are safe,” said Karen Jacobs, a mother of two.
“It’s like playing hockey on the street.”
To close the hills municipal staff will install temporary snow fences across each hill to stop people from sliding and have placed signage warning users that tobogganing is prohibited. The signs also encourage people to use the hill at Centennial Park.
In a lengthy note sent to municipal staff on Jan. 19, Mark Fercho, the town’s chief administrative officer, wrote the town could not ignore the risk consultant’s recommendation.
“The risk management consultant recognized by our municipal insurance provider was in Jasper to provide staff training and inspect various areas of interest brought forward by staff; this included toboggan hills, service standard policies; the underpass, etc. The number one risk that was identified in all we do was the toboggan hills, we received a recommendation to close them immediately. We cannot simply ignore this, we must act immediately,” wrote Fercho.
“The closure was not a council decision. It is an operational decision, the same as a boil water advisory or road closure. We act for the safety of people first, then look to work through the issue second.”
The note went on to acknowledge that people would be upset by the town’s decision, but it is better to have a discussion about the closures now than to have the same discussion in response to a child being injured or killed.
Paul Clarke
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