Skate park at TeWinkle OKd

Deirdre Newman

It was a day some skateboarders thought they would never see.

It was a day that culminated over a decade of passion and

futility.

It was a day the city’s first skate park almost skidded to a

grinding halt because of a lack of bathrooms at TeWinkle Park.

But city leaders’ desire to act decisively on what has proved to

be an elusive target trumped the lack of amenities and fueled

approval of a skate park at the corner of Junipero and Arlington

drives.

Monday -- close to midnight -- the City Council voted 3 to 2 to

approve a skate park at TeWinkle Park, with Councilmen Chris Steel

and Allan Mansoor dissenting.

Jim Gray, who has been pushing for a skate park for 10 years,

expressed cautious optimism.

“It still feels unfinished but I think the city has finally taken

steps to move forward,” Gray said.

While the decision represented a triumphant victory for the skate

park contingent, it was a setback for some in the Mesa del Mar

neighborhood. A group of residents -- fresh off their success in

persuading the council not to take out any trees in TeWinkle Park to

expand the softball fields -- opposed the skate park, mainly because

they didn’t feel it was the right location for it.

“Why that location?” asked resident Roy Heintz. “Why right on the

corner? So when we drive home every day, we have to drive past this

huge monstrosity?”

The decision was also a sweet success and vindication for City

Councilman Mike Scheafer, who resigned his seat on the Parks and

Recreation Commission in 2000 over his advocacy of a skate park.

Scheafer didn’t believe the location being considered at the time --

at Charle and Hamilton streets -- should be built. The council

ultimately agreed. He suggested TeWinkle Park instead.

“I feel really good,” Scheafer said, after the vote Monday.

Last November, the parks commissioners endorsed a recreation

master plan that listed a skate park as the No. 1 recreational need

in the city.

In September, the Planning Commission voted 4 to 1 to approve

TeWinkle Park as the primary site for a skate park.

On Monday, the skaters -- who turned out in force for the meeting

-- had to fend off repeated concerns from members of the Bark Park

Foundation, who had also tried to obtain the skate park site for

another dog-friendly area.

The skaters also had to counter concerns about the lack of

bathrooms near the site.

“It’s a high-endurance thing,” said Alex Knost. “You can go to the

bathroom first, then go skate for a few hours and then go home and go

to the bathroom,”

The council ultimately approved a skate park that will be no

larger than 15,000 square feet, based on a request from Councilwoman

Libby Cowan.

“I absolutely believe this town needs a skate park,” Cowan said.

“[But] I think it’s important to maintain sensitivity to the

community.”

The council directed public services staff, working with the

recreation department, to start design and development of a proposal,

including parking; to add bathrooms to the proposal; and to answer

lingering questions that Monday’s discussion brought up, including

hours of operation and whether the park should be supervised.

Gray attributed the skate park contingent’s long-awaited success

to perseverance and the high-tech methods employed to achieve its

mission, including creating a Web site.

“In some ways, I feel proud because I feel like I started a

movement,” Gray said. “We’re modern people and we used modern media

to get a lot of people involved.... e slayed the dragon partially in

front and partially behind the scenes.”

Gray also said he was eager to meet with the staff to help address

the outstanding questions to expedite the process.

Steel said he dissented because he believes city leaders should

work with Newport Beach officials on a skate park or put it in an

industrial area, away from residences.

There is about $528,000 in funding available for a skate park in

the 2002-03 fiscal year budget. Scheafer suggested that some of the

skateboard industry manufacturers in the city donate money for park

amenities.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing the Billabong restrooms,” Scheafer said.

City Manager Allan Roeder said the city would continue to talk

with Mesa del Mar residents as the skate park progresses.

“The dialogue on the skate park is not going to be limited to just

talking to skateboarders, and I think we want to continue to talk to

[residents] as we follow up the specifics on the skate park,” Roeder

said. “We’ve been given our marching orders, but as could be heard

from the comments by the various city council members, there are

fairly significant parameters for us to work in and details to tie

in.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].