Skate park debate rises again

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Two City Council members on Tuesday called for a new

vote on a controversial skateboard park at Charle and Hamilton streets.

A deadlocked and divided council was forced to return to familiar,

controversial issues surrounding a skateboard park at Charle and Hamilton

streets.

The council had not made a decision by press time, but it appeared

that a motion made by Councilwoman Karen Robinson to reverse an earlier

council decision to build the park and to research other sites would not

pass.

Robinson, along with Councilman Chris Steel, said that after reviewing

city documents regarding the decision, they don’t want the city to build

a park at that site.

“I still have substantial concerns that the Charle and Hamilton site

is not an appropriate one for a skateboard park,” Robinson said. “The

council is now on notice that this is not a safe place. I believe we have

a need for a skate park, we deserve two skate parks. But we cannot forego

safety just to get one done. We need to pick the correct site.”

The location of the park in a mixed residential zone instead of in a

community park, the size of the lot, the proximity to homes, the lack of

restrooms on the site and the lack of sidewalks were some of the reasons

Robinson said she opposes the site.

Steel said he would like to revote on the issue with a full council

and with more information from staff.

Councilman Gary Monahan, who has previously opposed the site and could

have been a third vote to drop the Charle and Hamilton street site, was

absent from the meeting.

Mayor Libby Cowan and Councilwoman Linda Dixon both spoke against

reconsidering the decision, saying they believe the Charle and Hamilton

site is a good one.

“I will not support this motion,” Cowan said. “We have a skateboard

park. It is finalized. I think the Charle and Hamilton site serves our

needs very well.”

City officials and residents have debated the location of the park for

more than two years. The city has been interested in building a park for

10 years and began looking at locations in 1998, when state law changed

to protect cities from skateboard liability.

Council members last year approved plans to build a site at Lions

Park, but changed their minds after neighbors pointed out potential

flooding and traffic problems, as well as diminishing green space at the

site.

The council approved the Hamilton and Charle streets in October.

With designs in their final stages, city staff members plan to bid for

a contractor to build the park in a month.