LAGUNA NIGUEL : Skateboarders Interest Panel in Building Park

Tired of being booted out of parking lots by angry merchants and traveling to Huntington Beach or Encinitas to practice their moves, local skateboarders are asking the city to build a skateboard park at Crown Valley Community Park.

So far their pleas have elicited some support, with three members of the Parks and Recreation Commission saying they like the idea of providing a hangout for skateboarders.

Skateboard parks usually contain concrete benches, stairs, ramps and pyramids that skateboarders jump on and off in daring tricks and turns.

At last week’s commission meeting, teen-age skateboarder Christian Schromn said his father occasionally drives him to Encinitas to use a YMCA-run skateboard park there, but he would prefer to take his board to a local park.

“We really need a skateboard park here,” said Schromn, one of a dozen skateboarders who told the commission what ramps they’d like to see in a Crown Valley skateboard park.

“I skateboard every day behind stores and people hassle us and the police come and tell us to leave and it’s not much fun,” he said.

Commissioners said they want the skateboarders to get involved in creating the skateboard park and possibly even running it once it’s built.

The commission will discuss the proposal again at its Dec. 12 meeting. YMCA member Gary Headrick, who volunteered to help the city plan the park, will present drawings of a possible skateboard park.

The commission will discuss whether a skateboard park should require use of safety equipment, such as helmets, and whether skateboarders should pay each time they use the park.

The commission will also look at whether the city should both build and staff the park, or just pay for building it and then allow the YMCA or another outside organization to manage it.