City Board to Explore Building Skate Park

Plans to build a public skateboard park are moving ahead in Oxnard, where parks and recreation officials will discuss the needs of youngsters tonight.

Like communities across the nation, Oxnard has seen an increase in the popularity of skateboarding and in-line skating.

In Ventura County, the Conejo Recreation and Park District recently opened three temporary skate parks in Thousand Oaks, while Ventura and Camarillo are designing parks.

Without a skateboard park, skaters in Oxnard use curbs, sidewalks and other street-side areas. Last month, Councilman Bedford Pinkard asked that parks officials look into the possibility of building a skateboard park. Tonight’s meeting is a first step toward finding out how much a park would cost, where it would be and how fast it could be built.

“It’s going to be an open-ended discussion,” Oxnard Parks and Facilities Supt. Michael Henderson said. He said commissioners “are interested, because [skating] is popular everywhere.”