Residents with basketball nets on Kearnsley Way in Stittsville feel they are being called for a technical foul over the placement of their hoops.
On Friday, Ottawa bylaw issued warnings to six homes on the street over their basketball nets, following a complaint that they were impeding traffic.
“We received a complaint about basketball nets being on the street and causing concerns with the flow of traffic and other related issues,” says Roger Chapman, Director of Bylaw and Regulatory Services for the city.
The warnings were issued without fines to residents whose nets either were on the street or were hanging over it.
Caitlin Kealey was one of those residents and tells CTV News that bylaw instructed her to move her basketball net, which she says her kids use every day.
“The bylaw solution was to move the net into our driveway, which means we would then have to move our cars onto the road,” she says.
“I have to say, driving around my car is a lot harder than driving around my basketball net that hangs four or five inches over the edge of the road.”
Ottawa Bylaw told CTV News it would take multiple warnings before a fine would be issued for breaking the bylaw, but in that case, the fine would be $615.
Chapman says the city encourages kids to play outside and does not have a problem with games such as basketball or road hockey, but the equipment cannot linger once the game is over.
“Pull your net down to the edge of the curb and play basketball for half an hour, an hour or whatever. And then, immediately following, move the basketball net back up off the roadway.”
“Ours is very heavy,” Kealey rebuts. “And there’s no way that our kids can move it. So it will require us, two adults every time to move, and it’s hundreds of pounds.”
On surrounding streets, basketball nets overhang on roadways with homeowners telling CTV News they did not receive warnings.
Chapman says bylaw is a reactionary service and only responds to the complaints it receives.
“[It’s about] ensuring safety and the flow of traffic, and ensuring that there’s opportunities, in particular on the weekend, that visitors who come to the neighborhood have a place to park,” he says.
Kealey now feels it’s her kids who have to pay the price of a technicality.
“It’s only on our street that this rule is being applied and it doesn’t feel very equitable.”