Skate parks backed

The Costa Mesa City Council tonight will consider a number of possible sites for the construction of small skateboard parks throughout the city, following the earlier rejection of a plan to construct a larger one at Lion’s Park.

That plan was rejected after the park’s neighbors expressed their opposition last November.

Local skateboard manufacturer Jim Gray, president of ABC Board Supply and a strong advocate for city skate parks, said he was disappointed that the original plans fell through, though he continued to support the council in its decision to move forward.

“The reality is, statistically, there are more kids that skateboard than play little league baseball,” he said. “To have one skate park serving thousands of kids, when there are so many around, is just silly.”

Gray, a skateboarder himself, said he often feels the athletes get a bad reputation — leading to a “NIMBY fear effect” that prompts residents to oppose skateboarding projects.

“You saw the same thing with surfers in the ’60s and ’70s — everyone just thought they were lazy,” he said. “Now they are athletes, make millions of dollars — the same thing is happening with skateboarders. People have one bad experience, and it becomes a rotten-apple-spoils-the-barrel kind of thing.”

The City Council will also rehear controversial plans to refit the Paularino/Santa Ana Dehli flood channel into a bike trail for the city.

The council initially nixed the proposal with a 3-2 vote, though Councilwoman Katrina Foley, noting the council did not receive letters written in support for the project during the meeting, requested the council reconsider its decision to shelve the bike path.

Foley was also concerned that the council’s vote invalidated previous plans that the City Council had already approved.

“Every single council member who sits on the dais today all campaigned on a promise to create and build bike trails in our city,” she added. “Over the past year, we’ve worked with staff and their view is that this is our best opportunity for creating bike trails that aren’t on the street.”

Len Bose, whose home borders the flood channel, says he’s not against bike trails, but still doesn’t feel safe with one so close to his home. A mail poll organized by Bose reveals that nearly all of the residents along the flood channel oppose the measure, he said.

“We almost have a full house, no pun intended, of homeowners along the way,” he said, noting that the majority of the respondents who didn’t reply — four out of seven — were renters without much vested interest in the property.

“We don’t have 100%, but it’s pretty darn close,” he said.

Efforts to contact the three council members who voted against the measure — Mayor Eric Bever, Councilman Allan Mansoor, and Councilwoman Wendy Leece — were unsuccessful. Previously, the council members have said they opposed the path because of the resistance expressed by its potential neighbors.

The meeting will be in council chambers at 6 p.m. at 77 Fair Drive.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.