HUNTINGTON BEACH : Skateboard Battle Returns to City Hall

The controversial skateboard issue again comes before the City Council tonight.

City staff officials are scheduled to ask the council for approval of start-up money for proposed skateboard rinks. But 23 residents of the Worthy Park area have notified the council that they will protest any move to build a skateboard facility near there.

The residents, in a petition to the council, charged that skateboard facilities would ruin city parks and adjoining neighborhoods.

“The noise level of this sport will cause considerable disturbance,” the petition from the Worthy Park residents states.

The city staff has proposed that skateboard facilities initially be built at Edison and Murdy parks. The staff recommended a delay in consideration of Worthy Community Park and Central Park for such skateboard facilities.

” . . . Worthy Community Park and Central Park presented neighborhood impact problems and possible conflicting use issues,” the staff report said. “However, they are still potential sites and may be included in a later phase.”

Ron Hagan, the city’s director of community services, said he will ask the council tonight for $23,190 for a site survey for skateboard facilities in Edison and Murdy parks.

“It should be noted that the proposed skateboard areas are not skateboard parks and do not have the half-pipes, ramps or large jumps traditionally found in commercial skateboard parks,” Hagan wrote in a memo to the City Council.

Hagan’s memo added: “By constructing these skateboard plazas in Edison and Murdy community parks, the city is providing alternative places to skateboard in, rather than commercial areas.”

Earlier this year, the city outlawed skateboards in commercial areas, prompting a huge outpouring of protests from skateboarders. In response, the City Council said it would look into the possibility of building skateboard facilities in city parks.