Graham council reviews decades-old downtown skates ordinance for updates

A decades-old Graham ordinance that can sweep up wagons, scooters and even strollers is headed back to the table after council members agreed to review it at their next meeting on May 12.

Mayor Chelsea Dickey said the city’s current language on “skates and other motive devices” is so restrictive that it goes well beyond what most people would expect from a downtown safety rule. She said Burlington and Mebane use more inclusive wording that explicitly allows wheelchairs, while Graham’s ordinance, adopted March 7, 2006, has not been revised since. The code still bans skateboards, roller skates, roller blades, sleds, tricycles, scooters and wagons in the downtown business district, along public sidewalks, in parks and around municipal facilities.

That discussion comes with a legal backdrop that may limit how far the city can go. North Carolina rules require public entities and public pedestrian areas to permit wheelchairs and manually powered mobility aids, and federal ADA guidance also addresses power-driven mobility devices. In that context, the council’s consensus to revisit the ordinance suggested an effort to modernize enforcement language before it becomes a problem for residents, downtown visitors and city staff trying to apply an older code to today’s streets.

The council also voted 5-0 to push back a public hearing on accessory dwelling units until next month. Staff had recommended cutting the maximum size of an ADU from 1,600 square feet to 1,200 square feet and requiring a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet for single-family homes with detached units. The proposal would also allow the primary residence and the ADU to use the existing primary tapped connection, if capacity is available. Mayor pro tem Ricky Hall opposed the changes, Bonnie Whitaker said she had “real reservations,” and Bobby Chin asked whether the General Assembly was considering statewide rules. Jim Young said he thinks ADUs are “the coolest thing.”

That statewide question is not abstract. House Bill 627 would require local governments to allow at least one accessory dwelling unit for each single-family detached home in residential areas, and it would bar some local restrictions, including maximum ADU sizes below 800 square feet. Graham also postponed until May a scheduled public hearing and discussion on its comprehensive future land use plan, leaving the city with a full slate of growth-related decisions when council members return to City Hall at 201 S. Main St. in Graham.