$1.2 million skate park opens in North Davis

The city decided on a new look for the decades old skatepark, involving figures from across the skating community for the design

By: COLE TAYLOR — city@theaggie.org

On Sept. 18, the city of Davis held a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new skatepark, located in Community Park off of 14th Street. 

In 2024, the city decided to overhaul the previous 30-year-old skatepark in the same location, with the city asking for recommendations and advice for the renovations. The final design for the park was made by Grindline Skateparks, Inc., a company based in Seattle, Washington that has designed and built skateparks across the United States. 

After months of planning and approval, the project broke ground in March 2026, costing the city $1.2 million. The construction of the skatepark took approximately six months with construction beginning in March and ending in August. Grindline will continue to make landscaping changes through November. 

Kate Peay, a fourth-year biotechnology major at UC Davis and Leader of the Aggie Skate Club, spoke upon the impact the skatepark will have for current and future skaters in Davis.

“I'm excited to see now having a skate park, especially built by a professional skateboarder who knows what a skate park should look like,” Peay said. “I'm hoping that this will make it more accessible for younger skaters growing up to be able to go in there and just, you know, play around.”

The city and Grindline actively worked to hear input from skaters and factored that input into the designs for the skatepark. Peay spoke on the importance of skaters aiding the design and development of the skatepark.

“And then, along with the skate park, they've really been working hard to, you know, make this an accessible place for everyone, and working with people who are in the skating community,” Peay said. “I think a lot of skate parks are often built by people who don't skate, and so the things that are most important to skaters are not included [...] and it's hard […] for anyone to drop in and, you know, skate around.”

The park was made possible by Capital Improvement Funds which are dedicated amounts of money reserved for infrastructure projects and other structural improvements that have long term outlooks. Tamiko Kwak, Acting Director of Parks and Community Services for Davis spoke on the many voices of support the skatepark had that turned it into a capital improvement project.

“And so this evolved into a capital improvement project, which is a big investment for the city,” Kwak said. “It got support from our city council to go forward with it, and it was really designed and built for our skaters, by a group of skaters, because Grindline is a company that prides itself on that they are skaters who also design and build, [...] and we did it as a design-build combination.”

This design-build combination included multiple outreach events where members of the community would express their desires for the skatepark and Grindline would then factor those desires into their designs. Kwak spoke on this constant communication between the community and Grindline.

“So we went through numerous community engagement meetings through April, May, June and July of 2025, where there was like 70 people coming to these outreach meetings to give feedback on what kinds of elements they wanted,” Kwak said. “They were just really into it, and like the multiple community meetings, they came out with this great finalized design.”

These designs amalgamated to the new skatepark, which opened last Friday, where skateboarders of all ages from Davis eagerly explored the park. Additionally, vendors from across Yolo County, like SorD boardshop in Woodland, came to join the celebration. 

Alongside these attractions, skaters were reminiscing of the old skatepark. Tony Phillips, a longtime skateboarder and Davis resident who attended the ribbon cutting, spoke on the issues skateboarders faced when the first park opened in 1993.

“I was involved in the '93, '94 skate park.” Phillips said. “Well, we gave a lot of great ideas, drew a lot of pictures and then when they poured the concrete and we came up, we were like, ‘This is nothing like what we drew on the pictures.’ It was a total waste of concrete.”

Phillips also spoke on how the design process for today’s skatepark greatly differed from the design process of the old one back in 1993.

“But this time they listened and they brought in professionals who actually know how to build a skate park,” Phillips said. “Whereas last time they came in and brought in people who normally pour sidewalks or other city concrete but not skate park specific.”

Alongside these memories were also hopes for the skatepark to grow the skating community in Davis. Sonya Black, a fourth-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major and treasurer of the Aggie Skate Club, spoke on the new skatepark’s potential in growing the skating community. 

“I hope it grows the skating community in Davis,” Black said. “It seems like there's a lot of kids, especially really young kids, that are interested and are already pretty good, to be honest. I think that the closest, good options for skating before this park opened were in Sacramento or Dixon, which is not super accessible if you're a kid interested in skating [...]. So I'm hoping that the opening of the skate park [...] encourages people to be skating more in Davis.”

The skate park is free and now open for use at Community Park, with hours from dusk to dawn. Patrons are asked to follow all park rules, including wearing a helmet, elbow and knee pads while using the Community Park Skate Park.

Written By: Cole Taylor — city@theaggie.org