A third skate board park for Huntington Beach

Paul Clinton

Huntington Beach solidified its image as a skateboarder’s paradise,

after a committee approved plans for a third skate park in the city.

The Community Services Commission, on May 8, moved forward with plans

to add a skate park at the Oak View Community Center, at 17261 Oak Lane.

It will be the third such park in Huntington Beach, with the first

having been built more than 10 years ago at the Murdy Community Center. A

second was later put in at Huntington Beach High School, where teenagers

can be found flipping their boards and sliding on the cement rails in the

afternoons.

Teenagers near Oak View have been clamoring to join their teenage

peers with a park in their own neighborhood. Several teens spoke out at a

City Council meeting in September, when $95,000 was set aside for the

park.

“We really want it and we really need it,” said 18-year-old Ernie

Santillan. “We need a skate park.”

Santillan, who attends Ocean View High School, spoke at the meeting on

behalf of more than 50 neighborhood teenagers who wanted the park.

Members of the city’s community services department had recommended

using the money to expand the community center’s gymnasium.

But when teens overwhelmingly asked for a skate park, the council

sided with their wishes.

The council would use a portion of annual block-grant money handed out

by the federal government to bolster low-income neighborhoods.

“The key is to put [skate parks] in large community parks or at high

schools where there are no neighbors who have to listen to the

clicketyclack of the skateboards,” said Community Services Director Ron

Hagan.

While the commission approved the skate park plans, members also asked

for more information before granting final approval.

In September, the council hired Purkiss Rose-RSI, a firm that

specializes in designing the skate parks. The firm will offer a

presentation to the commission in the near future.

Construction would begin on the park in July and is expected to be

completed in September.

While Huntington Beach has provided ample recreational space to its

own skateboarders, other cities have struggled to build such parks.

Efforts to build a skate park in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach have

stalled after officials in both cities haggled over locations.