Bothell, WA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Bothell Municipal Code § 8.60.385 is a sign-based rule. Where signs are posted in any park area prohibiting skateboards, rollerblades, scooters or similar wheeled devices, it is unlawful for any person to skateboard, rollerblade, scooter, or to use or operate any similar wheeled device in the park area. The section does not impose a blanket ban on every park path or plaza. The offense depends on a posted prohibition, and the catch-all words "similar wheeled device" reach other wheeled recreation equipment where the sign covers it. The section is written for park areas under the city's parks and recreation department and does not mention business districts or downtown streets.

Related park rules fill in the picture. BMC 8.60.090 prohibits games of any kind in the parking lots and roadways of all department facilities except with permission of the parks and recreation director or the director's designee. BMC 8.60.145 deals with mobility devices, which the code ties to the meaning in BMC 17.01.010: they can be staged, left standing, or parked in a city park only in a manner compliant with federal, state, and local laws and any city permit, and the director is authorized to post signs limiting where they are staged or parked. BMC 8.60.020(L) excludes mobility devices from the definition of motor vehicle. Outside the parks, BMC 10.20.010 separately keeps a person on roller skates, or riding a coaster, toy vehicle or similar device, off any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk, with the rights and duties of a pedestrian.

BMC 8.60.390 sets the enforcement approach: the Bothell Police Department and the parks and recreation department oversee park safety, the primary method is voluntary compliance, and citations are issued only by personnel commissioned for that purpose. Parks staff issue warning citations only.