Skater Peter Carey remembers the places he’d get kicked out of by security whenever he and his friends showed up to roll around in empty parking lots and near San Juan Capistrano storefronts.
Much has changed in the decades since he started skating as a kid, with skateparks popping up around the county and country, giving skaters a place to go to fine tune their skills.
And if all goes as planned, local skaters could be rolling into a new city skatepark by July 4, 2022, after more than a decade of planning.
The San Juan Capistrano City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 19, is set to discuss a design contract with Grindland Skateparks.
“If you want to go to a skate park, you have to go out of town,” said Carey, president of the San Juan Skate Coalition, which formed in 2017. “There’s parks, they are popping up, but San Juan has never had its own skatepark …having somewhere they can go locally and skate is going to be awesome. It’s nice to have somewhere they can go that’s local and safe.”
A Skatepark Mayoral Subcommittee sent out a request for proposals in September to prepare final plans and construction cost estimates. After reviewing three proposals, the Grindline Skateparks was picked as the design group up for council approval.
The design portion of the project is expected to cost about $128,000, which also includes a 10% contingency. Grindline Skateparks was selected because of the quality of its proposal and its understanding of the city’s desire to integrate the skatepark off Camino del Avion with the neighboring public uses, including the Ecology Center, Community Center and sports fields, as well as a future public trail, a staff report to the City Council said.
The proposed skate park would be 28,300 square feet, with 21,700 square feet of skating area. The plan calls for a mix of features, including a street plaza with rails and curbs, bowls, pools and transitions and stairs.
There could also be skateable art installations added to the project. It would have areas for beginners, intermediate and advanced skaters.
“For over a decade, members of the San Juan Capistrano community have expressed interest in a city skatepark. In 2007, a skatepark facility was identified as a community priority as part of a citywide recreation needs assessment. Since then, various stakeholder groups have evaluated several possible skatepark locations, held workshops to provide design feedback and conducted fundraising efforts,” the staff report said.
The plans are for an “all wheels park” that is also for scooters and BMX riders.
The entire skate park is estimated to cost about $3.5 million – the city would draw $3.1 million from its park and recreation funds, $187,756 in Community Facilities District bond funds, and $200,418 in Proposition 68 statewide park project grant funds, officials said.
“My colleagues and I are committed to delivering the long-awaited skatepark, and award of the design contract is a critical milestone,” Councilman Derek Reeve said in an e-mail.
The city of Dana Point has agreed to fund annual maintenance costs, as the park will be located close to the Dana Point border and is envisioned to serve residents of both communities, Reeve said.
For local skaters, hearing that the plans could be moving forward is welcomed news.
“We’ve been pushing the skate park forever. It’s been an ongoing battle off and on since I was a kid,” said Carey.
In May 2016, the city had a conceptual design prepared, along with a cost estimate at the site. The city approved the design, however after challenges with the original location – near the currently proposed site – a revised plan was adopted.
Carey said popular skate camps held by the coalition, before the pandemic, showed the sport’s popularity with local kids.
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“I think we showed the city there’s a demand and a need,” he said.
And with the coronavirus pandemic and other sports not allowed, skating has surged in popularity.
“I think it’s huge to offer that to our kids,” he said.
He hopes that other area skate parks in San Clemente or Laguna Hills, it will be free to the public.
Initial designs show it could be one of the best skateparks around, though Carey is not sure if new plans will have a scaled-down version of what was previously proposed.
“I don’t think we have to have the world’s biggest skatepark, just a decent skatepark would be great,” Carey said.
The design and environmental clearance process is expected to take up to nine months to complete. Once final plans and specifications are prepared, the final plans need council approval and the city bid out construction by fall, with hopes that construction will start by the end of the year.
Source: Orange County Register
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