Kirkland, WA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

KMC 12.12.030 prohibits skateboarding at three named locations: Peter Kirk Park, the grounds of Kirkland City Hall at 123 Fifth Avenue, and the Plaza of Champions inside the Lake Plaza parking lot where recognition plaques are displayed. An officer's observation that a skateboard is in motion upon the ground or pavement at any of the three sites, whether or not a rider is with it, is enough by itself to establish probable cause of a violation, per KMC 12.12.040.

That same section authorizes seizure and forfeiture: a skateboard a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe was used in violation of the chapter can be seized as evidence, and if seizure proceeds to forfeiture the case is handled under the procedure of Chapter 69.50 RCW.

Outside those three restricted sites, skateboarding is legal on Kirkland streets and sidewalks, but KMC 12.12.050 separately bans riding in a negligent manner upon any publicly owned property or way open to the public throughout the city of Kirkland. The code defines negligent operation as riding or propelling a skateboard in such a manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property, a standard that applies citywide, not just at the three named locations.

Both violations carry the same fixed penalty. KMC 12.12.060 sets the fine for any infraction under Chapter 12.12, including skateboarding violations and the related roller-skate and coaster restrictions of KMC 12.12.020, at a flat fifty dollars, charged as a traffic infraction whether or not the act at issue occurred upon a roadway.