Lines being drawn off Arlington Drive

Deirdre Newman

The battle for turf at TeWinkle Park continues tonight as advocates

for a skate park face off against fans of a bark park expansion.

Both will try to convince the Parks and Recreation Commission why

they are more deserving of a swath of land east of Junipero Drive

along Arlington Avenue.

The battle has been raging since the Costa Mesa Bark Park

Foundation expressed interest in the site in June. The area was

earmarked as an alternative skate park site for TeWinkle Park when

the commission first considered the master plan in November 2002. One

bark park already exists at Arlington Drive and Newport Boulevard.

The showdown was originally scheduled for late July, but was

postponed to include the land’s use as part of the remaining elements

of the TeWinkle Park Master Plan. That discussion takes place

tonight.

While skate park aficionados say they are in the familiar position

of rallying the troops for the meeting, they accuse the bark park

fans of being underhanded in trying to recruit skate park opponents

to come to tonight’s meeting. The foundation’s Web site invites

people who support the Bark Park, as well as people who oppose a

skate park, to come to the meeting.

“We’re not really anti-bark park,” said Jim Gray, a longtime

advocate for a skate park. “We’re saying, ‘They already have a bark

park. They don’t need another one. We need a skate park.’ Dogs aren’t

more important than kids.”

On June 9, the Planning Commission approved parts of the TeWinkle

Park Master Plan, a road map for the future of the city’s most

heavily-used park. But the commission continued a discussion on the

skateboard park for a variety of reasons, including giving fans of

the Bark Park a chance to weigh in on the discussion.

The master plan originally proposed a 20,000-square-foot

skateboard park at Davis Elementary School. But installing it there

raised red flags among some commissioners, staff at Davis and

Newport-Mesa Unified school board members, leading city staff to

consider another option, said Steve Hayman, the city’s director of

administrative services, said.

As this location loses its appeal, the skateboarders have shifted

their focus to TeWinkle.

So have the bark park fans.

The foundation settled on the area after a Fairview Park site they

wanted was rejected. The group would like to expand in order to

rotate between the current park and the new site to allow the grass

in both parks to recover.

Foundation officials say they do not oppose a skate park. They

just don’t want it at this particular location, said Terry Tyson,

foundation vice-chairman, because they don’t think combining dogs and

skateboarders is a good idea.

“Eventually, no matter how good the intentions are, one of these

days, some young man or woman will be on a skateboard going through

that parking lot and someone will not be caring for their dog the way

they should be and whether the dog bites somebody or just scares the

skateboarder, they’re going to go down and we’ll probably end up

losing our bark park,” Tyson said.

The foundation has collected about 660 signatures on a petition it

has circulated in support of using the area as another bark park. The

current park boasts about 1,000 users a week, Tyson said.

Tyson said he would support a skate park at Costa Mesa High

School, a site the city and school district are considering.

City Councilman Mike Scheafer declared earlier this month that he

wanted to identify a site for a skate park by Labor Day.

Tonight’s TeWinkle Park discussion will also include a pedestrian

bridge over Junipero Drive, a community center at Davis, a tot lot

next to the northeasterly ball field and half-court basketball courts

next to the existing tot lot and picnic shelter.

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

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