Lower Merion, PA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 145-60, added by Ordinance No. 3399 in 1995, is Lower Merion's general skateboard ban. Its default rule prohibits the use of skateboards or skateshoes on all Township property and on every sidewalk and street in the Township. The section carves out one exception: minor streets and tertiary arterial streets, as those terms are defined in Section 135-2 of Chapter 135, Subdivision and Land Development, along with the sidewalks next to them, and even there skateboarding is allowed only during daylight hours. Outside that narrow daylight-and-street-class exception, the ban is townshipwide and reaches Township-owned land broadly, not just designated parks.

The section also lets a private property owner shut the door on skateboarding entirely by posting signs prohibiting the activity, at which point riding on that private land becomes a separate violation regardless of the street-class exception. Finally, Section 145-60 addresses group use specifically: when skateboarding happens as a group activity, the group must not impede vehicular or pedestrian traffic, a standalone requirement that applies even on a minor or tertiary arterial street during daylight hours. Chapter 109, Parks and Playgrounds, contains its own skateboard-related restriction for Township parks and playgrounds; Section 145-60 operates alongside that chapter rather than replacing it, so conduct on park property can be reached by either provision depending on the facts.