Owners and employees of new local business Colorado Skate Collective have started a Change.org petition in hopes of getting the city to expand the skatepark at Parque de Vida in Cortez.
Colorado Skate employee, skater and parent of five, Isac Garcia, says that the local skate community has grown leaps and bounds since the facilities at Parque de Vida were built roughly 15 years ago and it’s time for an update.
He says he recently picked up the board again a year ago, and started bringing his young kids out to learn.
Expanding the skatepark for the next generation of Cortez skaters is a great way to reach a segment of the youth population, he says, that doesn’t play traditional sports like soccer, football or basketball but need a safe place to develop their skills.
“I grew up skating there, and a lot of people I grew up with did and now we’re the parents. There are a lot of kids who can’t afford sports like football but find their way with skating, and I think expanding the park, creating more obstacles, would kind of put skateboarding on the level of some of those other sports,” said Garcia.
Colorado Skate Co. owner Michelle Harrison says that the skate industry nationally is large and growing. An expanded park could also mean more tournaments, competitions as well as more people visiting Cortez and spending money here.
“It’s a big sport that if we could grow and host more competitions, it could actually grow the economy,” she said. “We are hoping, through our skate team, to start up things like skate camps that could really benefit from a bigger skate park.”
Garcia says that as far as exactly what the group would like to see from a design standpoint is still up in the air but the general idea is to expand the park by adding a street course.
As of August 5, the petition has gained 149 signatures.
“I signed this petition because I use to skate at the Cortez skate park when I was a teenager. And would love to help to make it bigger for kids to escape to for fun and most of all, staying out of trouble!,” wrote one supporter.
City Manager Shane Hale says the Change.org petition comes at a great time, as the Parks & Recreation Department as an update of the department’s Master Plan is on the horizon.
“I think it’s certainly a benefit of having parks and recreation amenities that run the gamut from football, to baseball to skateboarding and for the city it’s just a matter of balancing these competing interests and figuring out where the community wants us to put our resources,” said Hale.
Typically, the Parks and Recreation department has about $100,000 budgeted annually for capital projects, said Parks and Recreation Director Dean Palmquist, a challenging sum to work with considering all of the maintenance and upkeep existing parks assets require. However, major projects like a skatepark expansion could qualify for grant funding.
“I do see the street course as the next step for the skate park. I think it was built with the advanced skaters in mind, but adding on to accommodate beginners would be the next phase,” Palmquist said.
He says the department will hold public meetings in coming months on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to get feedback from citizens and parks-users on what projects they’d like to see tackled this upcoming fiscal year.
