Effort to skate past park plan falls short

Greg Harman

Wednesday, June 14, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

Entrenched differences on the proposed Boulder City skateboard parks surfaced again among members of the Boulder City Council.

But an effort to scuttle the design and construction of a cement skateboard layout at the 12-acre Adams Boulevard Community Park withered when it became obvious that all but one council member support the idea of a centrally located skate park.

Councilman Bill Smith found an ally in Councilman Joe Hardy in his request to suspend the rules in order to reopen last meeting's vote to commission a skate park design for ABC Park.

But while Hardy agreed there needed to be some clarification of the city's vision of the two proposed skate parks, he sided with Councilman Mike Pacini that a centrally located skate park was in the city's best interest.

"There needs to be a skate park in the central area of the city," Hardy said. He further suggested that the park would cut the need for enforcement by police of city ordinances that prohibit skateboarding on city streets and parking lots.

Smith's objections to the proposed ABC Park site, one of which is the proximity to a future library, were shared by at least one resident.

Boulder City resident Dean Jenson recounted a near-miss with an oblivious skater as he drove by the park.

Jenson warned that given the traffic of kids on skateboards in the streets around ABC Park it won't be long before a skater becomes his "hood ornament."

But Duncan McCoy, director of the Boulder City Library District, said he wants a skateboard facility at ABC Park to help keep kids from skating at the 24,000-square-foot library scheduled to open at the park in fall 2001.

Councilman Bryan Nix, who had pledged his opposition to revisiting the issue, was not at the meeting.

But the temporary wooden ramps located on the basketball blacktop at ABC Park for Boulder City skaters will be moved to Veterans Memorial Park within the next two months, the council agreed.

Also, preliminary construction will soon be beginning on bicycle motocross and skateboard courses at Veterans Memorial Park.

The council accepted a bid from McComb Contracting for construction of two large concrete pads - one measuring 100 feet by 100 feet, the other 100 feet by 120 feet -- for the courses. The cost for the two pad and surrounding landscaping is expected to top $127,000.

Smith recommended waiting to see how area children respond to the new location of the wooden ramps before moving forward with the designs.

"Why are we in such a rush to design and build a park at ABC?" he asked. "If this puts it off for six to 12 months, I don't see that as a down side."

But Pacini, who has pushed for the skate park since 1997, pleaded the case for the park.

"They're still going to be loud. They're still going to dress in baggy pants," Pacini said of the local skateboarders. "But they are their own culture and they're not going to go away."