Stittsville residents seeking answers as bylaw cracks down on street basketball nets

Stittsville residents on Kearnsley Way are seeking answers after an unusual bylaw crackdown on Friday. Every home with a basketball net received a ticket instructing homeowners to remove their nets from the road.

Stittsville residents on Kearnsley Way are seeking answers after an unusual bylaw crackdown on Friday.

Every home on the street with a basketball net received a ticket instructing homeowners to remove their nets from the road.

According to the City of Ottawa, the Use and Care of Roads bylaw prohibits people from leaving basketball or hockey nets on the road or on the city's right-of-way.

Resident Christopher Wray takes objection to his ticket. He says the half-dozen nets on Kearnsley Way sit on the lawn, allowing kids to shoot the ball from the road.

"Obviously, it's not on the roadway," he said. "It does overhang by maybe a few inches."

Wray was issued a ticket by a bylaw officer Friday morning. He was told it was the street’s garbage collection company Miller Waste Systems that made the complaint.

"If you're a professional truck driver and you can't drive a truck around that," said Wray, gesturing to his basketball net, "I think something needs to be asked in terms of questions."