Skateboarders to Help Mold Park

Edging closer to building Ventura County’s first full-size skateboard park, Camarillo skateboarders will be able to literally mold out of clay their dream facility, complete with ramps, pyramids and rails, at a workshop Oct. 14.

“If we don’t know what it is they want, we might build something they might not use,” said John Williamson, general manager of the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District. “We want to make it as user-friendly as we can.”

Ken Wormhoudt, the 67-year-old Santa Cruz-based architect hired to design the district’s skateboard park, died of pancreatic cancer in late August.

In the tradition of his father, who was known for involving skateboarders in the design process, Zachary Wormhoudt will bring mounds of clay to be sculpted into models of the park. He will return a few weeks later with a proposed design.

The 10,000-square-foot facility, which will be at Pleasant Valley Park on the corner of Ponderosa Road and Temple Avenue, should be open by next summer, Williamson said.

The park district has set aside $100,000 for the project, which is expected to cost about $175,000, and hopes the balance will come from the city and private donors.

Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, who introduced a 1993 ordinance that outlawed skateboarding in Camarillo, spearheaded a push to get her fellow council members to kick in about $50,000. The Camarillo City Council will decide on the matter this fall.

“I’m delighted that Mr. Wormhoudt’s son has picked up where he left off and that plans are proceeding,” Craven said. “The young people desperately need someplace for their recreation that’s safe for them and for other people.”

The workshop will be held at the Community Center on Burnley Street in rooms 1 and 2 from 5 to 7 p.m.