Skaters, dog owners turn to city
August 20, 2008
By Ed Farrell
A group of skateboarders hang out at the Snoqualmie City Council meeting Monday night. The group attended the meeting to encourage the city to build a new skate park. Photo by Ed Farrell
The conference room at Snoqualmie’s Public Works building meeting room was packed to overflowing Monday as skateboard enthusiasts and dog lovers each converged on the city’s Parks Board seeking facilities to allow them to indulge their particular forms of recreation.
Representatives of both groups quickly noted that Monday’s appearance was far from the first time their requests – a skateboard park and an off-leash dog park – had been presented to the board; in fact both projects have been identified as needs for several years, officials acknowledged.
And while neither group left the meeting with their stated goal achieved, board members enthusiastically offered support for both ideas, even if the city currently lacked funding to provide anything more substantial.
The skaters, in particular, found themselves talking to a supportive board of kindred spirits; board member Chelley Patterson told the youngsters and their families she “knows the addiction,” offering that her husband was an avid skater who once built a wooden half-pipe – a U-shaped platform common to skate parks that allow skaters to perform tricks – inside the couple’s basement.
Several others noted that skating played more than a passing role in their youth as well, and all acknowledged a desire to provide a place where the young daring-doers could indulge their desires safely.
“There’s obviously a need,” said Spencer Aston, who spoke to the board with his well-used skateboard in hand. “Every time we go out riding, we get yelled at or the cops called on us.”
Spencer was joined by his mother, Celine Aston-Smith, and father, Jeff Smith, each of whom extolled the virtues of the sport, as well as the good qualities of those who practice it.
“They’re not doing anything wrong,” Aston-Smith said of her son and other skaters. “They’re not doing drugs, but the impression seems to be they’re hoodlums just because they have skateboards.”
Al Frank, city parks director, said the board was aware skate enthusiasts need a park.
“It’s been talked about for some time now, and there is a need,” Frank said.
Frank said that he has looked into purchasing some module-type skateboard equipment, and that he has even identified a possible location, a city-owned parcel next to the fire station.
Frank said he learned the city of Westport had tried to provide a skate park, but problems developed with both the location – in close proximity to a residential neighborhood – and with equipment.
Modular skate park devices, designed to be portable and made out of metal, can be very loud if not properly insulated, he said, and Westport was looking to sell its equipment.
A far better alternative, he said, would be a concrete park, which could incorporate all of the features skaters, such as bowls, rails and other challenges.
But, Frank said, even a minimum-sized park of 10,000 square feet would carry a price tag of $300,000 or more.
“The funding is a big issue,” Frank said, “but the Park Board has heard your cry, that you need a park.”
Councilman Kingston Wall, who attended the meeting, acknowledged that while the council has included a skate park on its Capital Improvement Project, or CIP, list for several years now, there was little chance of city funding in the immediate future given the council’s commitment to constructing a new city hall.
That project, he said, “put the entire CIP on hold” until the new city hall is completed.
“For the next couple of years, there’s not going to be any money for the CIP,” Wall said.
Wall said, however, that he felt there would likely be strong council support for a park should the skaters find a way of helping with funding, such as establishing a non-profit entity, such as a 501(c3) corporation.
Board member Justin Rose said he was experienced in establishing such entities, and offered his assistance in the effort.
While members of the RidgeRovers didn’t bring their dogs with them to the meeting, the group was no less persistent in its assertions that the city was failing in its obligation to provide dog lovers recreational opportunities on par with soccer, baseball, softball and tennis.
George Isaacs told the board that, like the skaters, dog lovers were being forced to, in some cases, break the law to indulge their pets’ basic recreational needs.
Any attempt to run their animals without leashes in local parks, Isaacs said, ultimately was being met by an increased police presence.
“We believe off-leash activity is a valid use of our parks,” he said.
Parks director Frank noted the city does already provide an off-leash area, alternately known as Three Forks Park, or Meadowbrook slough.
Isaacs and his fellow Rovers, however, said that option, while acceptable for certain dogs and owners, was not viable for those who relied on walking for recreation, adding the city had acknowledged the need to locate an off-leash facility on Snoqualmie Ridge.
“Eighty-five percent of the dogs in Snoqualmie are on the Ridge,” Isaacs said, which is several miles away from Meadowbrook.
When asked to identify an acceptable site, Isaac quickly replied that Fisher Creek Park would suit his group well, and that the RidgeRovers would step up to assist the city in establishing the facility.
“We want the park to share, and are willing to do whatever it takes,” he said.
The group, however, stopped short of being willing to fund their park, arguing instead their tax dollars have already been paid, and they wished to see the city cater to their recreational needs.
“How many more seesaws, how many more swings do we need?” Isaacs asked. “Look at the demographics – everybody has dogs.”
Unlike the skaters, who seemed to have the support of both the board and onlookers, one audience member let the Rovers know she was not in favor of their proposal.
“You chose to have a dog, knowing there was no off-leash park,” said Betty Keeton, who identified herself as the wife of a police officer.
Keeton said she disagreed with the Rovers’ use of the term “responsible pet owners,” when the members admitted to breaking the law by allowing their dogs to run unleashed.
“You call yourselves responsible? If you want to be a responsible pet owner, you pay for it,” Keeton said, adding she “took umbrage with your demand to have this (park) this year. What I’ve heard is a remarkable amount of selfishness, and it breaks my heart.”
The board did agree to create a committee to meet with the RidgeRovers in an attempt to address the group’s desires.
The idea, the board said, would be to establish a “fast-action” panel that would address the off-leash concerns on both a temporary and long-term basis.
Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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