Skateboard Riders Rally for New Park : Recreation: After raising money to design the site, youths in Ojai will plead their case again with the City Council next week.

Ojai’s skateboarders aren’t letting city bureaucracy stand in the way of their hopes for a skate park.

Two months ago, when the youths requested $4,800 to draw up a master plan for the park, City Council members told them to come back in June--when the city might consider the plan in the 1995-96 budget--or to look elsewhere for the money.

So the skateboarders put their heads together to fund a park, so they would have somewhere to practice besides their current hangout at the park-and-ride lot on East Ojai Avenue.

In two months, the youths raised more than $4,500 through private donations and a concert with local rock bands.

“The kids had to do something,” said Craig Walker, a parks and recreation commissioner who is organizing the effort.

“Our goal is to have the city fund the actual park in the 1995-96 budget,” he said. “If we wait until this June for them to fund the study, we’ll have to wait until next June to fund the park. Some of these kids will have moved away or gone to college by then.”

On Tuesday, the skateboarders will ask the city again to fund the master plan, so they can put the money they have raised toward an actual park, which will cost about $75,000 to build and is slated for Sarzotti Park.

But if the city balks, they are prepared to pay architect Ken Wormhoudt to draw up the master plan so they can get the proposal rolling.

Wormhoudt, who specializes in such park designs, will get input from skateboarders by having them mold clay in a mini-park with the ramps and bowls they would like to have.

City Councilman James Loebl said that although he supports the youths’ efforts and enthusiasm for the project, he thinks the city should look into whether it really needs a skateboard park.

“The kids have a very legitimate request,” he said. “They met our requirement to find other funding. But no one is asking . . . whether this is a fad. I do not want something like a Hula-Hoop park in the city, something that will sit empty in a few years.”

The council is also facing an initiative drive sponsored by park supporters to force the city to pour $125,000 a year into a special fund for parks and recreation.

Walker began the petition drive after the city delayed approving the master plan for the skateboard park, but he said the drive will continue even if the city approves the master plan Tuesday.

“The initiative takes a broader view of recreation for kids, (and it) will fund more than just a skate park,” Walker said. “We’re continuing because it didn’t seem to be a priority to fund activities for teens.”

Supporters must gather 700 signatures by October to force a vote on the issue, which would raise the tax Ojai hotels charge guests by 2% if the city doesn’t fund youth projects.

Council members worry that the plan could discourage tourists, meaning fewer dollars for all city projects.

Meanwhile, skateboard enthusiasts are reveling in their successful fund-raising efforts and looking for ways to advance construction of the park, which has been in the planning stages since December, 1993.

The “Not Just Another Walk in the Park” concert held in Libbey Park on April 1 raised $2,000, and student organizers hope to make it an annual event.

“If nothing else, the effort to build the skate park is bringing the community together,” said Amy Welch, 17, who organized the concert and serves as the youth representative on the city’s Recreation Commission.

“A lot of the people who went to the concert didn’t even like that type of music, but they knew it was benefiting the skate park,” Amy said.

“But each time we put something before the council and they say no, it really hurts.”

Amy, who does not skate, said she and a skating park task force--made up of local skateboarders--were developing more fund-raisers to let city officials know that they take youth activities seriously.

“It’s important to have something for the older youth to do,” she said. “Skateboarding is not just a trend. It just keeps growing. It’s a lot like surfing, and surfing has been around forever.”