OPERATIONS AND PROGRAMMING: SKATEBOARD TRACK

Recommendation:

The Parks, Recreation and Community Resources Commission and staff recommend that Council approve the operations policy and programming strategy depicted in the analysis below for the Community Center Skate Track.

Background

City Council approved the construction of a 7,500 square foot Skate Track at the Community Center. Council approved bid documents for the project at their August 11th meeting. Absent any unanticipated delays, construction should begin in October with ribbon-cutting at the end of November.

In addition to project approval, Council adopted an ordinance at their September 10th meeting that meets the legislative requirements to provide the City with some immunity with regards to potential injuries at the facility.

Analysis

At the August 19, 1998 meeting, the Commission approved the policy and program outline with the analysis as outlined below:

FACILITY USE POLICY

Types of recreational uses allowed in the facility: From the beginning, the skate track was designed to safely accommodate skateboarders and rollerbladers. Due to the small size of the facility, BMX bikes will not be permitted. Signs will be posted indicating that bicycles will not be allowed.

Supervised versus unsupervised facility: The City Council has always envisioned the skate track as being operated similarly to the Hockey Rink with regards to supervision. That is, when City programs are not taking place; the facility will remain open to the public without structured supervision and/or use fees.

The vast majority of City skate tracks operate as unsupervised facilities. Cost is clearly one concern. The City of Davis anticipated paying over $40,000 in part time staff costs annually to operate a supervised track. In order to reduce the staff costs by $20,000 annually, they limited the weekly hours for the facility.

The next concern with a supervised track is additional City liability. When the City accepts the responsibility for direct supervision, the City also accepts the responsibility for an additional standard of care for the safe operation of the track, which can create additional exposure for the City.

A negative aspect of any unsupervised recreation facility can be "overuse" by older teens and/or adults. The remedy the City took with the Roller Hockey Rink was to establish structured programs for younger children to:

ensure that they have adequate access to the facility,

provide them with instruction in the fundamentals of the sport, and

Provide them with time slots not open to older teens and adults.

Staff has addressed the skate track in a similar fashion with the program recommendations that follow this section.

Hours of operation: Due to the noise associated with the activity and the age of most participants, hours can be a topic of significant discussion. Existing tennis court lights will enable the City to keep the facility open in the evening, greatly expanding the potential hours of use.

Adjacent tennis courts operate from dawn to 10:00 PM and the Community Center generally operates until 10:00 PM. The City of Huntington Beach does not restrict hours of usage on their track, however, the lack of night-lights does limit nighttime use. The City of Davis operates its facility in the summer months and school year weekends until 11:00 PM.

Notwithstanding the above, staff would recommend that hours of operation begin at 9:00 AM and end at 9:00 PM to address noise and youth curfew issues (the City curfew is 10:00 PM). Community Center staff will lock and unlock the facility at those times.

Safety gear requirements: Signs will be posted requiring all participants to wear (a) a helmet, (b) knee pads, and (c) elbow pads. Wrist guards will be an additional requirement for rollerbladers. If it does not pose any additional liability for the City, the Commission also wished to post a requirement for youngsters under 14 to be accompanied by an adult (this is in response to the City's limited liability immunity protection under AB1296 for people 14 years of age and older).

Enforcement: Per City ordinance, participants who fail to wear the required safety equipment will be subject to an infraction and may be cited by the Police Department. Clearly, as with all City sponsored programs, participants who register for classes and/or City events will be required to wear safety equipment.

Graffiti: While some skate tracks tolerate graffiti, the Commission wished to emphasize a zero tolerance graffiti policy. Absolutely no graffiti will be permitted and it will be considered vandalism, as it would be on any other City property.

RECREATION PROGRAMS

One of the key recreational benefits of skateboarding is that it is an unstructured, individual sport, lending itself best to free play and informal instruction (mentoring). Therefore, staff is not recommending a significant number of structured recreational programs for this facility. Rather, the recommendations below focus on the youngest participants as a means to ensure that they have fair access to the facility and instructional opportunities in the sport:

ProgramDescriptionCost"Boarding" schoolA mentor program for skateboarding. Under staff supervision, allow older youngsters to provide instruction to younger skaters. Registration would be required with modest fees to recover staff costs. City may want to consider subsidy for the program.ClinicsSchedule youth clinics with professional skateboarders (in-line skaters) and instructors.Staff will solicit corporate sponsors for these clinics (e.g., the professional skateboarder's sponsor). Registration fee will be required.CompetitionsAmateur competitions for youngsters. Staff will solicit corporate sponsors to pay for competitions. Registration fee will be required.

As with the hockey rink, programming and operational policies may be amended as staff and the Commission are able to assess the success of the initial plan.

Fiscal Impact: None

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