Skatepark location discussed

BRKOUT

The parks and recreation commission and Douglas County commissioners will discuss whether to have a joint meeting over the location of a skatepark during today's sessions.

What: Parks and recreation commission meeting

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Douglas County Senior Center

What: Douglas County commissioners meeting

When: 1:30 p.m.

Where: County Administration Building, Stateline

Boards consider three sites for Douglas skatepark

by Merrie Leininger

MINDEN - Hoping to jump-start the process of bringing a skatepark to Douglas County, the parks and recreation commission has asked county commissioners to schedule a joint meeting to discuss putting the skatepark in one of three locations.

Lampe, Stodick and Aspen parks have been chosen as potential sites for the skateboard park by the parks and recreation commission. The parks board, along with Parks and Recreation Director Scott Morgan and County Manager Dan Holler, decided skateboarders and inline skaters have waited long enough.

"It's been far too long. The parks and recreation commission is just real frustrated. Scott Morgan and Dan Holler thought this would be the most expeditious way to go about it," said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Stan Lamb.

The commission has held the skatepark up as a goal for almost four years now. Morgan said in the past, the group has looked at Stodick Park as an option, but park users expressed concerns, and the commission decided to look for a "better suited facility."

Years later, the commission has come back to looking at existing parks since they have been unable to find land anywhere else where nearby neighbors have not put up a fight.

"The focus needs to be on the location. During all the work the parks and recreation commission has done, I haven't really heard anyone come forward and say, 'We don't want a skatepark,'" Holler said.

At its meeting today, the county commissioners will decide if they want to have the joint meeting, proposed for Nov. 4. The parks and recreation commission will talk about the possible meeting date at their meeting tonight at the Douglas County Senior Center. If commissioners decide that's what they want to do, the meeting will probably be a public hearing, with notice going out to nearby residents and users of all three parks.

"My goal is to end up with a final decision that evening with further direction to the parks and recreation commission to move forward," Holler said.

Morgan said having the skatepark at an existing park will save money on facilities such as bathrooms and water fountains.

The Carson Valley Skaters, who have been pushing for the park for years, recently recieved more than $2,500 in donations after one of their own, Ryan O'Sullivan, 15, died, and a memorial fund was set up in his honor. The group has also organized a ski and snowboard swap fund-raiser Saturday at the CVIC Hall.

"When have people donate that much money, that speaks to the need," Holler said.

Vicki Bates, a member of the Carson Valley Skaters, whose sons are skateboarders, said the kids just want a place to skate.

"They don't care where it is, as long as they get one. I personally like Lampe, but any place will do. Aspen Park would be nice for the majority of the kids, but Stodick has fewer residents around it and Lampe has fewer residents and it is centrally located. If they have siblings who have soccer or baseball games, they could just go over to the skateboard park. We have a lot of support, we just need to get their voices (at the meeting)," Bates said.