skatepark design conceptsA pile of skateboarders showed up for the design input meeting this evening at Round Rock’s Clay Madsen recreation center. So many viewpoints were present that it was surprising that we all spoke the same language. Micah Shapiro from Grindline tried to run the meeting and gather the crowd’s input on what elements should be present in the Round Rock public skatepark.

He began the meeting with a screening of Grindline’s forthcoming DVD which may have bored street skaters with its heavy bowl content. The South Jordan section popped off the projection for these skaters and at least one person wanted to know more about that park. Afterwards, Micah ran through a powerpoint presentation describing the value of concrete and how they build these skateparks.

round rock skatepark meetingFinally, skaters were urged to put pen to paper and illustrate what they wanted to see in this skatepark. The main factor limiting the design of the park is the budget. Obviously, skaters want everything and then some in the skatepark, all catering to their specific tastes. Some skaters think a plaza is ideal while others would love a flow basin or a big bowl, so conflict abounds. Sure, $390,000 sounds like a lot of money that could buy everything everyone wants, it really won’t. It’s the designer’s role to find a compromise between these competing demands that makes the most effective use of the budget.

Tex recommends a plaza like KetteringIt seemed like several skaters left the meeting frustrated that their own visions might not be possible within Round Rock’s first skatepark. I’m guessing that their impression is that they weren’t being listened to at the design input meeting. The absolute reality of the matter is that this meeting was the least significant meeting for skaters to attend if they want to have an impact on what goes into a public skatepark. The most important meetings for influencing what can be built were the ones over the past year where Darrell and I begged skaters to show up and plead the case for Round Rock to support skateboarding.

That being said, Round Rock has increased the Clay Madsen skatepark budget by $200,000 and RR PARD is saying it wants to build another skatepark in Pioneer Park somewhere nestled amongst its 20 baseball fields at some future date. I do think the Clay Madsen skatepark project is headed for success, though, and when completed will be filled with skaters. Like Mabel Davis, there will be those who will criticize its shortcomings. They’ll freely cite this and that as reasons why it’s a crummy facility. And hopefully, they’ll be able to hammer some sense into the skaters who regularly drive in from San Antonio to skate it.

ARC skatepark overview