The Community Park Skate Park will be undergoing major upgrades in the coming years
By MATTHEW MCELDOWNEY — city@theaggie.org
On May 7, the city of Davis Parks and Community Services department held a community outreach meeting for the anticipated renovations for the Community Park Skate Park. After weighing community input, the city of Davis hopes to begin construction later in the fall.
Although designs and specific additions for the renovation have not been confirmed, the Parks and Community Services Director, Deanne Machado, provided insight into the tentative timeline for this project. The city of Davis Parks and Community Services has recently received approval to allocate funding to the project’s contractor, Grindline Skateparks.
“We wanted to make sure that the people who were building the skate park are people with experience building skate parks and skating,” Machado said.
The city is doing so to rectify some of the issues with the current skate park since its original construction in 1992, according to Machado.
“It is voted one of the worst skate parks in the state of California, which I think is kind of funny and cool,” Machado said. “So, of course, we’re trying to change that narrative altogether and be like, ‘No, we want to have the best,’ right?”
Machado hopes that contracting Grindline Skateparks — a company that has constructed 400 skate parks worldwide — will allow the city to transform the current park into one that skaters of all levels can enjoy.
“People are going to come from other places to skate a Grindline park,” Machado said. ‘We’re certain of that.”
Melody Eldridge, the senior civil engineer responsible for contacting and sending proposals to Grindline Skateparks, described the goals for this ambitious renovation project.
“We really wanted something that was going to be used by the community,” Eldridge said. “That’s kind of the big feedback that we got on this existing one — just a lot of disappointment.”
Eldridge described the requirements that the city looked for when finding its contractor: expertise in skate parks and a proven track record of quality builds.
As the city and Grindline Skateparks look into the community feedback they have received, they hope to interact with the students and residents of Davis to create a design that meets their wants and needs.
“We’re really trying to figure out the demographics of who uses it,” Eldridge said. ”Are you a beginner? Are you advanced? Things like transition versus street features — how do we want to use that space to best maximize what the community [is] using?”
In the coming weeks, a pre-design will be finalized, as they hope to accept future rounds of community feedback on the skate park before construction begins. To stay updated on the Community Park Skate Park renovation, the city of Davis website contains information on the project as it develops.
Written By: Matthew Mceldowney — city@theaggie.org
