Skateboarders can still give input about what features they want in a skate plaza.
The Garden City Parks and Recreation Department, which hosted a special informational meeting July 30 about the plaza planned for Garden City Park at Cherry Hill, east of Merriman, said that a link will be added this week to a Facebook page found under the city’s website.
A small group turned out at the meeting about the plaza which will be located in front of the old pool parking lot.
“This is your skate plaza,” said Dan Plamondon, Garden City Parks and Recreation supervisor and ice rink manager.
Hays Hitzing, director of skate park development for Spohn Ranch Skateparks of Industry, Calif. and Ray Parker, of Henessey Engineers, also attended.
The Parks and Recreation Department solicited bids for the design and construction. This project is possible due to $110,000 in Wayne County Parks millage money. The Garden City Council accepted Spohn’s bid of $85,000.
Spohn has more than 20 years of experience in community and corporate skate park design, and more than 500 community skate parks on their resume.
“We recently did two parks for Holland, Michigan,” Hitzing said. “We do 20-30 parks a year across the country.”
The company is looking at concrete for this park
“There’s no bowl or quarter pipe in it,” Hitzing said. “It is geared toward beginning and intermediate street skaters.”
Features for the plaza include stairs, with a rail, a slight elevation change, a Pier 7 block and a curved ledge with hubbas. A curved-in sushi pad manual pad is another feature. Hitzing believes this design will serve more people with less intersecting traffic patterns.
Spohn will look at the technical aspects of the plan, the soil and drainage, in order to finalize the scope. Hitzing said that they will make sure all of the angles are correct.
Hitzing said there would be at least a three-foot deck on one side and a berm. Bikers will be able to use the plaza, too, but it is designed primarily for skateboarders.
Tina Strasser, a Garden City resident and mother, wondered if the plaza could be expanded in time. Hitzing said that it is possible.
Cory Kramer, 19, a Garden City resident and experienced skateboarder, had many questions and comments.
“I’ve skated around here, in Ohio and up north,” Kramer said. “I’ve been everywhere for six or seven years.”
He predicts that local skateboarders will be at the park daily.
He also wanted to know if the quarter pipes in the middle of the park would be backed up by anything.
“I’ve skated that and it is hard for kids to balance up there,” Kramer said.
Kramer said that he’s interested in features not usually seen at some parks and presented his suggestion using a drawing made with a Sharpie that included three camel humps.
“Your voices about what you want will shape what is in the park for years to come,” Parker told the audience.
The plaza won’t be fenced in. Plamondon said that most people who use Garden City Park take pride in the park. It won’t be monitored, so Plamondon said he will rely on what skateboarders tell him is happening there.
The preparation begins Sept. 3 with construction completion estimated about Oct. 5. For more information or to offer comments, call Plamondon at (734) 793-1882.
sbuck@hometownlife.com (313) 222-2249
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