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SUNNY Temp: 62 °F Wind: NW at 4 mph Wednesday, October 9, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 22, 2002 Central Point skaters present case on size of proposed park By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Local skaters found a place this week to hang out with their boards, helmets and fellow skateboarders without being told to move along. A dozen skatepark supporters, and a few concerned citizens, appeared before the parks commission Thursday night to speak on a proposed project that has been rolling along for nearly four years. The meeting was held to help plan a skatepark for a 3.7-acre site next to Central Point Elementary purchased from the school district in January for $283,000. Skaters who attended the meeting were focused on getting rid of plans for a regulation-size soccer field on the site and proving to parks commissioners that the proposed street-style park would need more room than was being promised. Recent efforts to get citizens to vote on one of three designs for the site — all of which included a community center, soccer field, volleyball courts and the skatepark — resulted in only 40 "ballots." Mack Lewis, a parks commissioner and father of the boys who started the project, agreed with skaters that a soccer field would consume too much of the site. "We have to ask ourselves, are we still valuing this group of kids when we say we’re going to give you something, but it’s going to be secondary?" Lewis asked. In the four years since skaters pitched the idea to the city, Lewis pointed out, the park design had been reduced by more than 70 percent (from 27,000 feet to 8,000). The most recent conceptual designs call for 5 percent of the total site. Parks commission members came to two major conclusions: The soccer field sought by citizens who attended a previous meeting would be designed for the future Don Jones Memorial Park on Hamrick Road; and A recently proposed water-play facility should be built on the same site as the skatepark, no matter how big the skatepark ends up being, because the two will attract smaller groups of younger people. While the size of the park will be largely dependent on a grant opportunity in January, Lewis and skaters insisted the park would at least have to be large enough to warrant building. "No matter what size you build it, it’s gonna attract skaters from all over, and if you build it too small it’s gonna be too crowded and that won’t work," said Medford skater Brian Neely. Medford skater Cody Guinn agreed skaters don’t need "another vert-style park," but a street-style park. "Most of the parks, like in Ashland, Medford and Grants Pass, are all vert (vertical, bowl style) and they’re too small. We’re always getting caught for skating in Central Point, but we have no place around here to skate that’s big enough. There’s tons of vert parks around here but no street-style," said Guinn. City planning technician David Arkins reminded park commissioners to consider that not all kids in the city are skaters. "I’d like to try to remind you that that skatepark is not all that’s going to be on this property. There are other items. A lot of kids do things other than skate," he said. "But," argued Lewis, "we also need to remember the youth skate committee initiated the purchase of this property to begin with and City Council has stated that the skatepark is the priority on this site." Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S