St. Johns is gone...

Bring on the new park.

Kelso ant that far way from PDX. check the design from grindline!
http://grindline.com/cgi-bin/view.pl?view=kelso

- dEAN

*** Kelso Will Try To Sell Skate Park Idea ***

Kelso, Washington -- 05/04/2006
When it comes to choosing a site for a skateboard park, Kelso city officials have a tough sell on their hands.

Next week, they hope to convince Burcham Street residents it won't be madness on wheels if the city builds a 10,000- square-foot concrete skateboard bowl in their neighborhood.

"We don't intend to just ram it down their throats. We hope they come open-minded," said Community Development Director Kent Anderson.

On May 11, the city is sponsoring a skateboard park forum at 1405 Burcham St., East Hills Alliance Church, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. City leaders, local skaters, skateboard park designers and neighbors of Longview's skateboard park on Washington Way will talk about the project, answer questions, and hopefully, alleviate Burcham Street residents' concerns about traffic, crime, drugs and noise, Anderson said.

Councilman David Futcher said he hopes once the city conveys accurate information to opponents of the park, "they'll understand it's not a project that'll affect the quality of life up there."

But changing their minds probably won't be easy.

In September 2004, after Burcham Street residents learned a skate park might be built 500 feet from the nearest house at Rotary Park, they circulated a petition and gathered signatures from at least 63 park opponents.

In November 2005, the city invited local skateboarders to review computer-generated drawings a Seattle skate park design company drew for Kelso's park. Fred Hooper, who lives close to Rotary Park and led the petition drive, attended the meeting and said if the city settled on Rotary Park, "You bet I'd be fighting it tooth and claw." Officials say Rotary Park, a grassy triangle with picnic tables, bathrooms and a playground off of Minor Road next to Interstate 5, is the best spot in the city for a skate park -- and they've planned accordingly since the project was hatched in late summer 2004.

Grindline, a Seattle-based skate park company, designed Kelso's skate park specifically to fit the slope of Rotary Park.

Also, the city called in a geotechnical engineer a year ago to survey the property in response to neighbors' allegations that the land was too swampy to bear the load of a concrete skate park. (It isn't).

And although city officials have said Tam O'Shanter Park might be an alternative, Councilman David Futcher, also a Kelso Rotarian, said there's not enough room for the concrete bowl. A skate park at Tam O' would be limited to putting ramps on basketball courts, he said.

Another drawback for Tam O' is its relative seclusion compared to the highly visible, Futcher said Monday.

"Nobody wants to do illegal activities when you have 10,000 cars coming past you on the Interstate," he said.

Once the city announces a site, it may begin applying for grants and funding. Kelso Rotary Club is donating $45,000 toward the project, which may cost up to $200,000.

posted by pdxbmx @ 11:37 PM