Demise of skate park plan expected

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- A controversial plan to build a park at Charle and

Hamilton streets for skateboarders appears destined for the trash bin.

The City Council is expected to take up the issue again Monday, this

time with what could be enough votes to reject the effort.

Council members deadlocked over the issue Jan. 2, when Mayor Libby

Cowan and Councilwoman Linda Dixon voted to continue with plans for the

park and council members Chris Steel and Karen Robinson voted to dismiss

the site from consideration.

Councilman Gary Monahan, who voted for the park in October although he

disagreed with the site, was absent from the January meeting and called

for a second review of the site.

On Friday, Monahan said he still opposes the site.

“I believe the skateboarders of Costa Mesa deserve a quality site,” he

said. “The site chosen at Charle and Hamilton is not in the best interest

of skateboarders and the community.”

City officials and residents have debated, at times angrily, the

location of the park for more than two years.

City leaders and residents have been interested in building a park for

10 years and began considering locations in 1998, when state law was

changed to protect cities from liability resulting from accidents at

city-owned parks.

Council members approved plans last year to build a skate park 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.

In October, the council approved a new -- though still controversial

-- location at Hamilton and Charle streets. With designs in the final

stages, the city is on schedule to bid for a contractor to build the park

this month.

That schedule -- unless Robinson, Steel or Monahan change their minds

-- would have to be scrapped.

Michael Scheafer, the former parks commissioner who resigned over the

issue, is among several residents who are happy to have another chance to

convince the council to reverse its decision.

A number of skateboarders say they are distressed by the review. They

fear it could again delay the building of the park.

“We’re just going to go on forever and ever,” said Paul Schmitt of

Costa Mesa. “The kids just lost another month and are going to lose many,

many more. I hope they can find a spot and still build it this year. I

think regardless of who says what at this meeting, the issue is going to

be cast back to the beginning. I’m certainly not giving up, but at the

same time, I’m very disappointed with the hierarchy and failure to make

decisions and to follow through on them.”

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 77 Fair

Drive.

For more information, call (714) 754-5223.