The politics of building a Skatepark.

What do communities do when young skaters are turning their downtown areas into high-speed obstacle courses? Like many communities, the city of Grand Junction, Colorado, had a problem with skateboarders. Their pedestrian-friendly downtown area, with its sidewalks, concrete planters, and benches, drew young skateboarders practicing ollies and fakies. Downtown shopper's and business owners complained of skaters using pedestrians as slalom gates and damaging brick and concrete planters. Young people with baggy clothes, body piercing, and "attitude" were hanging around in large groups downtown. The Grand Junction City Council reacted as most communities do in this situation, passing an ordinance to outlaw skateboarding in the downtown area and other public places.

Four years later, while skating is still outlawed in the Downtown Shopping Park, skaters are now practicing their ollies and fakies in the new $223,000 Westlake Skatepark. An inline-hockey rink has opened in a new regional park, and a second inline-hockey rink was added at a middle school. More skate facilities are planned for future neighborhood parks.

How did tiffs turnaround occur? The skaters, with help from the local business community, presented their case to the Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Department. Director Joe Stevens reviewed alternatives with his department and city staff. "Opportunities were developed and presented to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, who ultimately made a recommendation to city council," said Stevens. "The city council supported the need and funding for facilities,"

The skaters worked through a local Jaycees member who owned a skateboard shop. The skaters accompanied the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to a city council workshop to plead their ease. The sight of 30 or more young people milling around outside the meeting room in typical skate board attire was somewhat unsettling to those attending the meeting, When the kids spoke, however, most council members realized these were typical kids underneath a somewhat intimidating guise, Council members heard the skaters' request for a place to practice their sport and agreed to find a way to fund it.

PRIORITY STATUS FOR A SKATEPARK

Suddenly, a park that had never appeared on the 10-year Capital Improvement Plan was moved to priority status, and staff began working quickly to turn this request into reality. At the stone time, construction had just begun to add softball and soccer fields to a $6 million regional park, but there was no money in the budget for a new skatepark.

Grand Junction Mayor Janet Terry comments, "This was really a tough project. It was difficult because it wasn't open that the city spent a lot of time planning. It crone out of a grassroots effort."

"One of the things council felt was important was to keep the young kids busy. I don't think any of us thought of what the consequences were of out-lawing skateboarding downtown. The process worked well, though. We ad dressed their needs as well as we could, This was not in our parks plan, and we had to scramble financially to get it done,"

What did the city's risk manager think of a skateboard park? "My first reaction was, Why don't we just jump off a cliff instead?" said Dave Roper. His second reaction was to gather as much information as he could to make some recommendations to council and staff, "I began to research skateparks in other areas to find out if they had had liability problems and what they advised to reduce their liability. Most cities recommend that you post regulations, supervise the facility to some degree, and fence the facility." As far as injuries, the vast majority were of the "cut-and-scrape" variety, with abrasions and contusions and injuries to knees, elbows, and wrists.

The question of outdoor lighting was also raised. "Without tights, people can be injured," said Roper. "With lights, people would be encouraged to use tile facility when it is not safe, unless the lighting was massive, Any small amount of lighting would encourage people to use the skating facility when it was not appropriate to use it. Without a budget to include lighting and supervision, we preferred to post it as being closed to skating after dark."

LOCATION DISCUSSED AT TOWN MEETING

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board held a town meeting to discuss a location fur the proposed skatepark. More than 150 people attended including skaters, downtown merchants and residents of two that were proposed as sites for the new park. At first, parks mid recreation staff recommended a site next to an existing park. Residents of the neighborhood objected, pointing out that the area was already subject to heavy usage and would not be able to handle additional traffic. Another group of residents, hoping to turn a neglected drainage area into a park, came forward to request the skatepark be built in their neighborhood.

After studying both sites and meeting with the neighborhood, parks department staff recommended that the parks board select the Westlake Buthorn Drainage area for the now skatepark. The property near Sherwood Park, which was first proposed as a site, would be sold, and a portion of the proceeds would fund the new skatepark at Westlake. The Jaycees offered volunteer he]p to design and build some of the ramps and sundry skating features. It looked as if things would move fairly quickly to get this park built; but that was not necessarily the case.

An appraisal of the Sherwood Park property came in much higher than anticipated, and the prospective buyer backed out, The much-needed funds from tiffs sale were not available. Shown Cooper, parks planner, explained some other difficulties he encountered: "We didn't have utilities on this site. We realized we needed sewer utilities and drinking water, and this was a new site not scheduled for development. We had to put a security fence around the site to keep unaware people from falling into the holes late at night, and we ran into cost overruns because of this."

CONSENSUS OFF OPINION SOUGHT

The design of tiffs park presented its own special challenges. "We held two or three public meetings with the skaters," said Cooper. "As a designer, I was trying to get a consensus of opinion on what the skaters wanted." Cooper also worked closely with professional skaters Jason Troth and Tim Altec, who helped make the park more challenging. As the plans for the park expanded, an architectural firm and a local structural engineer were also hired.

Originally, the design called for wood Structures placed on a concrete pad. After working with the skaters and doing Some research, the final design for the Westlake Skatepark featured a seven-foot-deep Rectangular concrete bowl, a free-form Seven-foot-deep open-ended bowl, a street-skate area, and a 10-foot-deep bowl with a keyhole slot.

Cooper also met several times with the Westlake neighborhood to address concerns, which included possible vandalism, late-night use of the park, and noise. The ritual design included a landscaped berm that would provide a buffer between the skatepark and the residential property fronting the park.

Throughout the planning process, the skaters continued to put pressure on city council to complete the park. Funding was still a problem since the Sherwood Park property had no interested buyers. Phone calls to council members and a city hall "Citizen's Line" and letters to the editor of the local newspaper kept the issue alive for city council.

According to Jamie Hamilton, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board member, "The kids were organized. The pressure came from the skateboarders. They went directly to city council, who told us to put this higher on our priority list." The Westlake neighborhood was also pushing for the completion of the park.

In the meantime, the Jaycees applied for Colorado Lottery funds from Mesa County and were awarded a grant of $27,500 to assist with the development of the park. The Jaycees also presented a request to receive $27,500 in self-help funds from the Park and Recreation Advisory Board for the same purpose. Local high-school students applied for a $500 grant from the El Pomar Foundation for the project, $12,000 was received from the local Lions' Club, and an additional $5,000 came from a business owner.

Finally, the city awarded the construction bid Mays Concrete of Grand Junction, and excavation on the site began in February 1997. The bowls and steel supports began to take shape, and what had been an empty field became a focal point for the neighborhood and a community of skaters. The excitement culminated in Mayor Terry cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of the Westlake Skatepark on May 28, 1997, one day before the beginning of summer vacation for local school children.

SUCCESS IS IMMEDIATE

The park was an immediate success for the skaters. On any given day, 50 to 250 skaters are using the skatepark. "The facility is heavily used," said Roper. "In spite of that, the number of injuries is low. There is a higher degree of self-policing than I would have expected."

Mary Steinbach, recreation superintended for the city, who, with Cooper, met several times with the skaters to design rules for the park, explained the concept of self-policing: "We sent out a flier and worked through local skate shops to invite the skaters out to help design rules for the park.

Once we agreed on the rules, the skaters said they would help police it themselves." Since the skatepark is not part of a larger park facility, it would have been expensive to provide daily supervision. "Helmets were a huge issue. The kids agreed to a rule requiring them, but this is difficult to enforce. We post the rules, and when we check on park, we remind the skaters of these rules." Skaters also wanted to "tag" the park with stickers and graffiti. That was one issue park staff and the neighborhood firmly opposed, "If the park is tagged, the skaters know we will shut it down until we can clean it up or cover it over," said Steinbach.

There have been some instances of vandalism, although nonskaters may be guilty of committing some of the damage. Issues concerning skaters' behavior in the nearby grocery store and gas station are ongoing, and parks staff have continued to address these problem s with store managers and skaters.

"I have learned a lot about patience and understanding in working with this group," said Cooper. "At times, it was difficult to comprehend what the skaters wanted and why it was needed."

Some of the neighborhood fears have not materialized, including the concern over hind music. Many of the skaters drive their own cars to the park and will turn on the car radios, bet loud music has not been a problem, Probably the biggest safety issue is the skaters who skate to the park in the street, ignoring the bike lanes and sidewalks in favor of the middle of the road.

Due to the tight budget for this project, landscaping was not added right away. This summer and fall, an irrigation system, grass, trees, a picnic facility, and permanent restrooms will be added at Westlake. The park continues to be a large gathering place for young people, It has been attracting so many skaters from throughout the region and state that Thrasher magazine has recently dubbed the park "Colorado's Killer Concrete."