Backing for Skateboard Park Sought : Camarillo: Local realtors join the effort to create a gathering place for youths, who face ban at some shopping malls.

Under looming threats of fines as high as $500, skateboarders who favor Camarillo’s sloping parking lots are joining local activists to help forge an idea into reality.

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Weeks after the Camarillo City Council empowered merchants to ban sidewalk surfers from outdoor shopping malls, a committee of teen-agers and adults has a name, an empty pocketbook and lofty visions of a skateboard park that would double as a social center and gathering place for Camarillo’s youth.

“I’m hoping before the end of this year to ascertain the size of land we need,” said Ed Williams, a local realtor who has taken up the cause. “It’ll be a club the kids can belong to.”

Place to Skate, PTS, is a citizens committee of more than a dozen members, with a near 50-50 balance of adults and teen-agers. The committee has met twice and formed a handful of subcommittees charged with such tasks as site selection, finances and design.

Williams, like other committee members donating time and energy to the project, said community leaders have an obligation to help.

“I have grandchildren and all of the sudden I realized that we, the realtors, are selling homes with all kinds of bedrooms, which means places for families,” he said. “We should assume the responsibility of providing the activity space for these children.”

The City Council passed the new law unanimously in October after merchants complained to council members that skateboarders were disrupting business and terrorizing shoppers.

“The law doesn’t prohibit skateboarding everywhere,” Camarillo Deputy City Atty. Lisa E. Kranitz said. “The idea was that if it’s a problem, we’ll give (merchants and landlords) a mechanism to control it. But if it’s not a problem, there would be no violation.”

Over the summer, skateboarding teen-agers were a big problem for some businesses at Camarillo Village Square, an outdoor mall that is a favorite among skateboarders because of its undulating parking lot.

“They were being obnoxious to customers going into the market, but they have nowhere else to go,” said Mark Eaton, the owner of Bill’s Bike Shop.

“It was quite rampant during the summer months,” agreed Terry Robinson, who owns the nearby Camarillo Auto Parts store.

“There was a handful of kids who had been hoisting their bikes up to the top of the flagpole and letting them fall, but it’s mostly died down since school started,” said Robinson, who said he is still skeptical of the new law.

“I think you’ll probably have to wait until next summer to see if there’s been any real change,” he said.

Nonetheless, landlords at Camarillo Village Square are taking no chances with outlaw skateboarders.

Executives at La Cagnina & Associates, the Encino-based property management firm that oversees the Camarillo retail center, said signs will prohibit skateboarders from the area.

“These are tough economic times, so we don’t want any disruptions” to the holiday shopping season, La Cagnina Vice President Neal Smith said. “We’re going to post signs at the entrances and those places where we’ve found a number of problems.”

The signposts give teeth to the new ordinance because the way the law is tailored, skateboarding is only illegal if a notice of the ban is posted.

“Until the signs are properly posted, there won’t be any cites,” Camarillo Police Sgt. Keith Lazz said.

If the skateboard park is built, it will likely happen without public money. Although City Council members Charlotte Craven and Michael Morgan have attended committee meetings, no city funds will be spent on the proposed park.

“This would be a good outlet for these kids,” Craven said last week, before she passed the gavel to new Mayor Ken Gose. She said she would support a onetime donation of some city money to help establish the park.

Williams estimated that the park would cost between $40,000 and $80,000, depending on what design the committee chooses.

Camarillo’s city manager, however, said he would recommend against the council spending tax dollars on a skateboard park.

“We’re not in the recreation business,” J. William Little said. “We’ve turned it over to a group of citizens, kids and so forth, and they’re supposed to look into it and get back to the (Pleasant Valley) Recreation and Park District.”

But General Manager Eldred Lokker said the park district’s insurance policy specifically prohibits skateboarding on the agency’s facilities. A new policy would cost $30,000 or more, he said.

Lokker did not rule out providing land for the park, but said it does not seem feasible.

“We have to wait until we get a formal request” for assistance before making a decision, he said. “There are a lot of things that are needed in Camarillo.”

Refugio Flores of Flores Brothers Karate Studio, one of the most vocal supporters of the ban during public discussion in October, said it would be a good investment for merchants to donate money for a skateboard park.

“Kids have something to do when they’re preoccupied,” Flores said. “But when they have nothing to do. . . . If a park’s what they need, then I think we should listen.”

Williams said he plans to visit skateboard parks in Napa, Sacramento and elsewhere beginning next week to gather information about what kind of facility the committee wants.

“You can’t ask for money until you have something specific to do,” he said. “I’m going to investigate about four or five skateboard parks with the committee to see approximately how much land we need.”

Ruben Miranda, 18, vice chairman of the committee, sees potential in the progress that has been made. He predicted some city assistance before the project is built.

“Sooner or later, they have to look our way and see that we’re doing something good,” he said.