Northfield’s Park and Recreation Advisory Board switched to the backup plan for a permanent skateboard park, Old Memorial Park, at a special meeting Thursday.
Soil borings showed that the Northfield City Council’s first choice, Riverside Park, is impractical with at least $350,000 of excavation and other work that would have been required to make the silty ground suitable to build on, said Brian Erickson, assistant public works director and assistant city engineer.
He said that the park board passed the resolution as primarily informational, showing that the change was in line with the council’s wishes to build it at one of the two sites in 2013.
The park board is considering an 8,000 square-foot park at the southeast corner near the current pool office, he said.
City staff, members of the Northfield Skateboard Coalition and the group’s preferred designer, Spohn Ranch, will now start drafting plans to construct the project near the city pool.
“It has been kind of a controversial project, probably for no good reason other than that nobody wanted it in their backyard,” said David Hvistendahl, a PRAB member.
He said that some people may also be concerned about the young people that a skateboard park would draw, but that it makes sense to build it an area that already has activity, along with first aid, staff and a concession stand at the pool.
“Both of them are about outdoor physical activities,” Hvistendahl said. “As a city and as a park board, we need to encourage that.”
He said that the board will gather more information to make sure that Old Memorial is actually the best option. The most recent soil test at that site was conducted in 2005.
Charlie Hussman, who has been part of the group of skateboarding enthusiasts before it was called the Northfield Skateboard Coalition, is working closely on the design.
“People from different groups were saying they want more interaction and input on design,” he said. “That’s absolutely welcome.”
The design should utilize the natural landscape, he said. Hussman’s ideas are to include elements of famous skating sites from around the world and a place to display art.
“It’s not going to be a skate park that you saw in a late 80s punk rock music video with graffiti and quarter pipes,” he said. “It’s going to be architecture and sculpture.”
As one of the first to be involved with the process, Hussman has seen changes in the coalition’s members and what drives them to continue. And what has driven some skateboarders to give up.
“A lot of those kids are the younger brothers or siblings of people that went to those meetings and the discouragement level, after they went off to college and didn’t see anything from it, was so high,” he said.”That’s so wrong of a city to have caused that. It’s just because of the lack of understanding and preconceived ideas of what something is and not being curious about learning from children.”
The site for the skateboard park has been debated and rehashed dozens of times since 2006. The following is a timeline with some highlights from the process so far, as detailed in city documents:
Late June 2006: First interest meeting about skateboard park is held at the Key (Northfield Union of Youth).
Summer 2006: Skateboard Coalition is formed. The group starts meeting every Wednesday at the Key.
July 2006: Coalition members brainstorm what they want in a park. Charlie Hussman turns the ideas into a first concept design.
October 2006: Members speak at an open mic at the Park and Recreation Advisory Board meeting about the need for a skate plaza.
December 2006: Coalition presents a 45-page proposal, including a list of what they hope the new park can have, as well as letters of support from community groups.
May 7, 2007: Council directs park board to work with the Coalition to develop a site selection process, design and cost for a future skate park and to include it within the Park System Master Plan. Potential sites: Ames Park, Babcock Park and Old Memorial Field Park.
January-October 2007: Coalition members volunteer at numerous city events, design donation jars and distribute them to 15 businesses, attend a grant workshop and collect signatures from local youth, along with several other fundraising efforts.
November 2007-March 2008: Members meet with an architect, discussed final features for the plaza, receive a matching grant of up to $10,000 from the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, are featured in a national video profiling outstanding youth development efforts in Northfield, receive a Red Wagon Award from state representatives, continue fundraising.
Jan. 17, 2008: PRAB has open house and rules out Babcock Park. Letters, petitions and comments are received from residents near Old Memorial Park, stating opposition to the park at that location.
March 17, 2008: Council approves Ames Park as the location. The estimated design size of the plaza is 12,000 square feet, concrete with urban streetscape items, costing between $180,000 and $240,000. Coalition is raising money and $30,000 of city funds is set aside.
March 2008: A petition with more than 150 names is documented. Signers say they are against putting a skate park at Old Memorial Field, as it was not included in the approved park master plan that aimed to leave green space, a walking path, landscaping for noise control and aesthetics and seating along the path.
April 7, 2009: The council is told that it would cost between $628,460 to $803,829 to complete the Ames Park Master Plan that would include building the plaza, making modifications for safety on the Fifth Street Bridge and planting vegetation.
June 1, 2009: The majority of the council does not support the park board’s recommendation of Ames Park for the skate plaza location.
July-August 2009: Skateboard Coalition recruits volunteers to help build temporary location at Babcock Park.
Sept. 21, 2009: Council resolution removes Riverside Park, Sechlar Park, Sibley Park, Washington Park and Way Park from further consideration. Remaining sites still under consideration: Babcock Park, Memorial Field, multiple sites mini-area, school district areas and Spring Creek Park.
May 1, 2012: Council adopts motion to establish a temporary skateboard facility in Riverside Park until Oct. 15, 2012.
May 20, 2012: The council nixes Ames Park as a potential spot for a new skatepark.
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