(Click for full-size view, as a PDF – upper right of rendering is 29th/Barton)
Back in August, the first community design meeting for the soon-to-be-built Roxhill Park Skatespot included discussion of the adjacent playground renovations (WSB coverage here). And when the final design plan is presented next month, the two projects will share the stage again. But last night at Southwest Library, the “schematic” (draft) design that California Skateparks has come up with for West Seattle’s second skatepark was alone in the spotlight.
CS’s lead designer Colby Carter explained the design as a “basic street plaza,” albeit one with more transitional elements than his company usually builds. A lively discussion followed, including specific critiques from youth and adult skaters who were in attendance, as you’ll see in our video:
A couple quick points in case you couldn’t watch the video: Carter said that while there’s still “flexibility” to tweak this design, the “major breakthrough” came in fitting the concept onto the challenging site, because of its size, grades, and trees (5 will go, 18 will be planted, said Seattle Parks‘ Shwu-jen Hwang), not to mention the budget. Still no lights, Parks’ project manager Kelly Davidson reiterated; she says there’s just no money in the budget for them. (Lights had been a request at the August meeting, along with perhaps a bowl feature; that’s not in the schematic design, either, but there are multiple bowls at the open-a-month-now Delridge Skatepark.)
Among those on hand was Matthew Lee Johnston of the city’s all-volunteer Skatepark Advisory Committee, which has reviewed the project with California Skateparks since the August community meeting, and he thanked Carter for taking into account feedback they had provided. SPAC had concerns earlier about the project, having not been kept in the loop when donations from the Rob Dyrdek Foundation were announced for the project while that skating star was in town last May (WSB coverage here), which led to a “no-cost” design contract with California Skateparks.
Next step: The final design is due to be unveiled November 14th, 6 pm, Southwest Library, along with the final playground design – though that project gets its own “schematic design” unveiling at the library next week, 6 pm Monday (October 17th). And there’s still time to take a look at the design and tell Parks what you think, if you weren’t there last night – check the project’s official city page for info on how to send in your comment(s).
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