City Chills Out a Bit on Skateboard Curbs : City Hall: Laguna Niguel council decides that handcuffing and arresting young violators are excessive. Fines are substituted.

LAGUNA NIGUEL —  The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to reduce the penalty for skateboarding offenses, almost a month after two teen-agers were arrested and handcuffed for allegedly riding their skateboards on a busy street.

The council voted 5-0 to support a recommendation by Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Davis that the penalty be scaled down from a misdemeanor to an infraction. The ordinance is expected to be adopted Dec. 3, when it comes before the council for final approval.

Under the revised ordinance, violators would not be arrested or face prosecution in Municipal Court. Instead, they would be fined $25 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent violations.

Councilman Thomas W. Wilson, who was elected mayor Tuesday night to replace Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates, said the council reduced the penalty “so there would not be any repercussions” from residents who believe that the penalty is too severe.

“There have to be some rules for skateboarding, just as there are rules for bicycling or driving a car,” Wilson said. “But the way the rules are written can be modified so that they don’t go to the extreme. This was an excellent recommendation.”

Both sides argued their cases to the council.

Abel Armas, a foe of more leniency, said skateboarding violations should be treated as serious offenses. “I have a personal experience of skateboarders coming down Pacific Island Drive in front of me in the center lane,” Armas said.

But skateboarder Sage Geyer, 15, who has a friend among those arrested a month ago, told the council that skateboarding is not a criminal offense. Noting that some council members had suggested that penalties be increased and skateboarding be outlawed at shopping centers, Geyer said: “We don’t have anywhere to go. Even if you raise the penalties, people are still going to take chances. It’s a dead-end street.”

Some council members had called for a review of the city’s law after two 15-year-old boys were arrested for allegedly skateboarding during rush hour along busy Niguel Road near Marina Hills Drive. The boys were handcuffed and taken to the city’s sheriff’s substation, where they were booked and photographed before being released to their parents. (The Sheriff’s Department is under contract to provide Laguna Niguel with law enforcement service.)

Last month’s arrests--the first in the city under the ordinance barring skateboarding in the street--triggered protests throughout the county from skateboarders and their supporters, who described the penalty as ridiculous. But Tuesday night, skateboarding supporters praised the council for changing the law.

“Skateboarding should not be a criminal offense,” said the mother of one of the teen-agers arrested a month ago. “We’re here to look after the safety of our children, and arresting them and handcuffing them is certainly not the way to go about it.”

The council Tuesday also asked the traffic commission to study the city’s traffic regulations and recommend a uniform law for skateboarders, pedestrians and motorists.

Times correspondent Leslie Earnest contributed to this story.