It’s gnarly news for skaters. The city will spend $14,000 on San
Diego-based Site Design Group this summer to develop conceptual
designs for the long-awaited skate park, said Mori Struve, deputy
director of the Morgan Hill Public Works Department.
Morgan Hill – It’s gnarly news for skaters.
The city will spend $14,000 on San Diego-based Site Design Group this summer to develop conceptual designs for the long-awaited skate park, said Mori Struve, deputy director of the Morgan Hill Public Works Department.
“The consultant is ready to start drawing ‘bubble diagrams,’ ” said Struve, referring to diagrams planners use to define spaces within a landscape. “The whole conceptual design will take about two months.”
If all goes according to plan, the Morgan Hill City Council will review the plans in late July or August. At that point, Struve said, the city should know what it will cost to build the skate park along with its companion BMX park north of the Centennial Recreation Center parking lot on Edmundson Avenue.
“Basically, the conceptual design work will show what the park will look like and how it will be configured,” Struve said. “A cost element will be developed, too.”
Last year, the city scrapped plans for a park with steel ramps after a construction bid came in too high and new cost estimates on laying down a permanent concrete park were shown to be cheaper than expected.
City officials found the average cost of classic in-ground concrete parks in the last six years has been $330,000. City officials previously pegged the sum at closer to $1 million.
Cost, however, remains a factor. Struve said $161,000 is currently available for the skater playground, meaning the council would have to find additional money in an already tight budget.
The city’s current skate park on Butterfield Boulevard is equipped with above-ground wooden ramps. It opened in 2000 and was never intended to be a permanent park. City officials say it’s now approaching the end of its useful life.
For years, local skaters, most of them teenagers, have asked the city to build a classic in-ground park. The smoothly contoured parks have been popular with skaters since the 1970s, when shredders in Southern California learned to use empty swimming pools to perform tricks.
The Morgan Hill Youth Advisory Committee this year conducted a survey of 50 skaters ages 13 to 17 that shows an overwhelming majority want a concrete, in-ground park that’s open to all ages.
Struve said the youth committee’s input will continue to inform the design process.
Additionally, he said two public meetings will be held in June to gather feedback on the proposed park.
