Skateboard Park Gets Protesters Rolling

Not long after the sign went up announcing that Chapparosa Park would soon be home to Orange County’s third skateboard center, the rumblings began.

Concerned about teen skateboarders creating safety and noise problems at the 23-acre park, homeowners have banded together to fight the project.

Almost 100 people from Marina Hills and other surrounding neighborhoods packed a city informational meeting Tuesday to express their concerns.

“If you’re talking about that same element [at the skateboard park] that hangs out behind the Payless [Drug Store], flaunting authority, cursing out adults, then I am concerned,” said Dave Pancoe, who lives three streets from the park.

Concerns about liability and congregating teenagers have long kept cities from building skating facilities. But with the success of Orange County’s only two skate parks in Huntington Beach, cities including Laguna Hills, San Clemente, Santa Ana and Irvine are reconsidering.

Laguna Niguel, citing a growing demand from residents for a skateboard area, hired a consultant in July to draw up the blueprints at Chapparosa Park. The facility would include concrete ramps and ridges for skaters to ride and perform tricks.

Protests soon followed.

Residents say their concerns reach beyond the prospect of badly behaved teens hanging out in the neighborhood. They cite potential traffic and noise problems, and are concerned teens might injure themselves if they skate to the facility by way of a steep, paved access road that links a tract of homes with the park.

“I don’t think anybody but skilled skateboarders or bikers can handle that hill,” Pancoe said. “Are the kids going to walk their boards down there [to the park]? I think that’s unlikely.”

Pancoe and others who live close to the park said they already deal with noisy softball games there. The constant clattering of skateboard wheels, they said, would make the close-knit neighborhood almost unlivable.

Built on rolling hills with views of the ocean and parklands, the neighborhood is “a beautiful community, and people come together because they take pride in it,” said Mary Ann Malamut, president of the Marina Hills Homeowners Assn.

Many homes go for upward of $300,000. The community also is diverse in ages of residents, with a significant population of seniors.

Although residents are overwhelmingly opposed to the skateboard park, there have been a few supporting voices.

“There were definitely some valid concerns being expressed, but what bothers me is that I heard the words ‘riff-raff’ and ‘gang members’ ” used to describe skateboarders, nine-year resident Laura Pavlovich said. “Perhaps Chapparosa is not the final location [for a skate park], but let’s not be closed-minded.”

Pavlovich, noting that skateboarding is illegal in public places throughout Laguna Niguel, asked: “Where do our kids go?”

City officials said they may start looking for another site.

“Maybe what we should do is go back and look at the site feasibility before we go too much further,” said Public Works Director Ken Montgomery, who met with residents Tuesday. “We are definitely taking their concerns very seriously.”

In the meantime, residents are going door to door in their continuing opposition to the plan.

“I don’t want to say ‘not in my backyard’ because I really don’t have a problem with the skateboard concept,” Malamut said. “It’s just that this is the wrong location for it.”

NEIGHBORHOODS / Marina Hills

Bounded by: Chapparosa Park Road on the south, Marina Hills Drive on the north, Niguel Road on the west and Golden Lantern on the east

Population: About 1,500 homes

Hot topic: Proposed skateboard facility at Chapparosa Park