Skateboard Park Moves Forward in Camarillo

They’ve had nowhere to ollie, grind or catch air for the past four years. At least, nowhere to do it legally.

But Camarillo’s youth may be able to zoom off ramps, down bowls and over pyramids in an outdoor skateboard park within the next year.

The Camarillo Youth Advisory Council recently voiced concern that the area’s youth--tired of being chased out of shopping center parking lots and anywhere else that outlaws skateboarding--need to have a place to do their kick-flips--legally.

Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park officials agree. In fact, they’ve set aside $100,000 to build the skateboard park and will listen to the public’s opinions about the project at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“The sport is here to stay and it provides wholesome entertainment for youth,” said John Williamson, park department general manager. “There’s enough youth on skateboards that we need a place for them to go so it blends in better with the community.”

When financing is approved, the recreation department will purchase a lot for the 10,000-square-foot park between the Boys & Girls Club and the city library on Ponderosa Drive. Organizers have discussed adding a roof to the park, so skateboarders aren’t rained out during winter months.

And owning up to the situation they’ve created, Camarillo City Council members are considering kicking in $50,000 toward the project’s total cost of $175,000.

“We basically made it against the law for these kids to skateboard, so now we have an obligation to give money for them to have a place to do it legally,” said Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, referring to an ordinance she introduced in 1993 because of complaints from area merchants.

Last week, Craven asked the City Council to contribute toward the design and construction of the park with money out of the city’s general fund, the community services grant fund or a combination of the two. The council plans to discuss the matter at its meeting Wednesday.

No doubt pleased with the prospect of a skateboard park, Las Posas Plaza Shopping Center donated $500 for the cause, prompting the park project’s organizers to solicit donations from other shopping centers.

Williamson recently met with architects and a design team consisting of community youth and interested adults.

“It’s really positive the city is backing a skate park--skateboarding kept me out of trouble when I was a kid,” said Todd Anderson, 29, a consultant to the design team.

Fifteen years spent touring the country as a professional bicycle stunt rider and skateboarder has prepared the Camarillo native to assist with design and resource information.

“I want to do anything I can to help move this along,” said Anderson, who also lectures at area schools on sports safety and drug awareness.

Backers also hope that the skateboard park will serve as an alternative to drugs and other mischievous conduct for some Camarillo youngsters.

“I’m really against drugs and alcohol, and I see the park as a way for kids to not get in trouble,” said design team member Chris McMakin, 18, one of the city’s skateboarders who originally proposed the park idea to the youth advisory council.

People often stereotype skateboarders, but most are dedicated to the sport, said McMakin, who became serious about skateboarding four years ago. He began using his older brother’s board when he was 7.

“It’s not just something we do, it’s a part of our life,” he said.

Most important, however, the proposed park will give youth a sense of participation and a facility in the city they can call their own, said McMakin, who rides for the shop team at Revolution Surf Co. in Camarillo.

Camarillo’s park will be the first full-size public skate park in Ventura County, but there are three mini-parks--each about 3,000 square feet--in the making for Ventura.

The architect for the Ventura projects, Ken Wormhoudt of Santa Cruz, has already rounded up local skateboarders and discussed their needs.

He then provided the skateboarders with modeling clay so they could illustrate their dream park, narrowed the submissions down to about eight models, and has begun to make preliminary drawings. The city will review them this summer and put the project out to bid.

Although the sites are still not secured, the Ventura Parks and Recreation District expects the three facilities to be ready for skateboarders by January.

Camarillo has also considered hiring Wormhoudt, who has completed 10 skateboard parks and is working on 21 other parks throughout California, Washington, Nevada, Oregon and Alaska.