TEENS, PARENTS HAVE DESIGN ON NEW SKATE PARK.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY -- Vert, flow, street and transition -- just some of the terms that bounced off the walls Saturday at the city's two-hour design workshop for a new skate park.

And it was serious business for about 50 participants, including skateboarders and a few parents, as the city seeks to build a bigger, better venue.

``It keeps them out of drugs, keeps them out of gangs, keeps them out of all the bad things,'' said Ghisella Castro, a fan of the existing park who brought her teenage son Sean to the workshop.

The existing skate park at the back of the Sports Complex on Centre Pointe Parkway covers about 12,000 square feet.

The city wants to build a 25,000-square-foot skate park at Ruether Avenue and Centre Pointe Parkway while demolishing the existing park to make way for an expanded gymnasium and parking area.

The city has provided $400,000 for design of the new skate park, although money for construction has not been budgeted.

Arthur Galaviz, 25, of Camarillo, was pleased that designers welcomed his ideas as a biker because the two sports have not always co-existed peacefully.

``Bicycle riders want to be a part of skate parks as much as skate riders want to,'' he said.

Standing around a site plan as the workshop was winding down, Galaviz and other young participants discussed what types of features the park should have, including stairs along the edge of a music stage.

They used phrases such as, ``If anything, a box jump right here, too,'' and ``Because you know, what we do need is some sub boxes out in the corners.''

Workshop organizers included skate park designer Mike McIntyre and former professional skater Kanten Russell. Another design workshop is planned for late January and construction could begin as soon as next summer.

Russell, who has crisscrossed the globe for competitions and shows, now is a designer with Site Design Group Inc., one of the consultants hired on the project.

When asked what kind of park Santa Clarita might get, Russell, 33, said his company needs time to work with the suggestions received Saturday.

But there was one common theme from the workshop.

``More street in the front, and more transition in the back is what we got from every single design,'' he said.

That means the front end of the park would incorporate more features that might be found on the street -- obstacles such as rails -- and the back end would have the kinds of features only found in a skate park -- such as inclines that take the shape of giant pipes.

For more information, go to www.sitedesigngroup.com, or e-mail [e-mail].

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