Parks & Rec Board wonders, does city want a skateboard park (or even a refurbished pool)?

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Members of the Charles City Parks and Recreation Board have been talking for several years about creating a new skate park in the community, but before spending a lot of money, members are now asking if people really want one – and if anyone will help pay to build it.

A new skate park would replace the one near the Lions Field swimming pool parking lot that was disassembled in 2020 after its mostly wooden features had been breaking down and becoming potentially unsafe.

“I think we need to be open to the community and let them know, ‘Hey, this is what we’re working on, what do you guys think?’” said Parks & Rec Board Chair Jeff Otto at the board’s meeting last week.

Board member Cory Mutch said, “I’m thinking from the marketing standpoint of it, too, of how we get people excited about what we’re doing,” regarding a skate park, and also the board’s much larger project of refurbishing the municipal swimming pool.

The Parks & Rec Board would like to locate a new skate park east of Brantingham Bridge, on city-owned property on the north side of the Cedar River that was acquired through a FEMA buyout after the floods of 2008.

Board members like that spot because it is more visible and more easily accessible than the former spot tucked away in the corner of Lions Field Park.

The figures the board has been using are anywhere up to $35,000 for ramp and rail features to be installed at a park that skateboarders can use to ride, slide and grind over.

There is currently no cement pad at the preferred location, so that would add another $18,000 to $20,000 to the cost, said Charles City Parks and Recreation Department Director Tyler Mitchell.

The  board currently has $20,000 set aside for a skate park in its budget, he said.

“We’ve got to figure out how we want to approach the skate park,” he said at the board meeting. “How are we going to fund the rest of it?”

Mitchell said the board had already applied for eight to 10 grants to help fund the project. It had been turned down for two of them and hasn’t heard back from the others.

“We need to figure out what our next step is,” Mitchell said. “We can’t guarantee we’ll get grants. It’s either we’re going to have to scale back the size of the skate park we were thinking, or we need to start hitting the fundraising trail as a board.”

One option is to locate a skate park on existing concrete, such as part of a public parking lot (the Charles City Senior Center lot has been mentioned), on one of the basketball courts at Sportsmen’s Park, or even back at the old skate park site by the swimming pool.

“We talked about that,” Mitchell said. “The problem with where it’s at right now is it floods all the time. You’re going to have to do something with drainage or when it rains it’s going to be full of water and you wait until it goes away. But, it was also hidden, too, where more things happen at night.”

Mutch said the surface on the old park isn’t in very good shape, so if they’re going to have to pay to have it resurfaced he’d rather spend the money on building a new one on their preferred location where it’s more visible.

“I feel the same way about Sportsmen’s. I think it’s just going to become a problem there, too,” Mutch said.

City Administrator Steve Diers, who was at the meeting, noted that the board had been forgiven the final $30,000 of $100,000 it had pledged toward the new Charley Western Recreational Trail bridge over the Cedar River, so that money would be available.

Otto said, “Let’s put it toward this and get it done. What are we waiting for?”

But Mutch replied, “I say we put it toward trail maintenance.”

“I say we just keep tabling it and just keep working on it,” Mutch said about the skate park project.

Otto said the board should put out the word that they’re looking for donors.

Diers said the board should also consider outreach to the community to see what support exists for a new skate park, as well as for a refurbished swimming pool.

“That’s kind of what I was wondering, too,” Mutch said, referring to the work the board is doing to get ready for a pool project and whether after spending $40,000 for the initial study and design work, they’ll find out the community won’t support several million dollars to refurbish the pool.

“Are we going to spend the money and then find out we could have used that money toward something else?” Mutch asked.

Otto said the board had already committed to the second phase of the pool project with its consultant, JEO Consulting Group of Ankeny.

“We can’t get that money back,” he said.

Parks & Rec Board member Chris Eldridge commented about seeking input from the public regarding a skate park.

“My fear is we say, ‘What do you think, everybody?’ and then we get 45 ideas. I don’t find that helpful, because we have talked about it on and on and on and on, and we’ve looked at some options. None of them can go in without a concrete pad,” she said.

“I think we just pick a spot along the river and start pouring concrete, and then worry about what we want to put on that concrete. Otherwise nothing’s going to get done,” she said.

Toward the end of the discussion the board began talking more and more about public perception regarding the pool project as well as a skate park.

The pool project would potentially cost about $1.3 million to fix the existing 32-year-old pool at Lions Field, and up to a couple of million dollars more to add additional features to update the pool. A bond referendum would likely be needed to fund the project,

“I think you want to come up with a plan,” said City Administrator Diers. “You want to come out with something to present to the community, and then start meeting with special interest groups or something, just to get the feedback, to make sure that we’ve got buy-in. You want to feel good running a bond referendum – if we need to run a bond referendum, if we don’t just fundraise it all.”

Mitchell asked for a board member to work on an outreach plan with him, and Mutch said he would do it.

Mitchell said he and Mutch would put together a plan and present it to the board before going ahead with anything.