Wheels stay on skate park for at least a month

By Scott Nicholson

The Watauga County Board of Commissioners debated the future of the county’s skate park during Monday’s meeting, deciding to spend another month trying to make the park work.

Ryder Seiz, 8, steadies himself as he races down a ramp at the Appalachian Skatepark in Boone. Seiz, from Newland, was trying out the sport for the first time with his father. Photo by Mark Mitchell

Watauga County Parks and Recreation director Stephen Poulos presented a report on use of the skate park during April. He said several different attendants had monitored the park during its scheduled public hours. The use in autumn was nine people per day, on average, while a security guard was in place, rising to 12 per day when an attendant was on duty instead of a security guard.

“We have periodically watched the skate park during unsupervised periods, [and] the usage has been minimal and usage of full gear is very low,” Poulos said in his report. “Also there have been several observations of skaters going through the parking lot during supervised hours.”

“This has been up for two and a half years and we’ve made several attempts to make this successful,” Poulos told the commissioners. He said the number of skaters had now declined to about five per day, with vandalism reported, including the taking down of signs that listed the park rules.

Poulos said the general attitude is that skaters are not happy about having to wear pads. He said some skaters had been cordial and say with fewer skaters, they have plenty of room to do their tricks.

In March, the recreation commission voted 13 to 1 to recommend shutting down the skate park. County attorney Andrea Capua said there had to be some accountability for the park, since it was on county property. The county was paying $40,000 a year for an independent security firm, and later attendants were paid around $7 an hour as part-time county employees.

When the park opened and was unsupervised, about three-fourths of the park users were not wearing helmets, said commission chairman Jim Deal. After complaints, the county hired a security firm, but many skaters stopped using the park. The commissioners discussed closing the park last autumn, deciding to use a park attendant instead.

“It appears if we don’t supervise it, they will use it but not follow the rules,” Deal said. He said the recreation commission has probably spent more time on the issue than on any other parks issue and said the recreation commission didn’t feel it was worth the resources since the park was little used.

Deal said part of the reason the park was started was because skaters had been using Boone streets and sidewalks. Commissioner Billy Ralph Winkler said he was disappointed, and said he’d feel differently if it was only a minority that was not following the rules.

“We just didn’t ask that much,” Winkler said. “We asked them to wear their equipment.”

Commissioner Winston Kinsey made a comparison to a swimmer who didn’t follow pool rules and would be thrown out of the pool. Commissioner Tim Futrelle said he hoped the county would continue to work on recreation alternatives but rules were the issue.

Deal said the county couldn’t condone violating established rules.

“There are rules that are established for every sport that I know of, and if you follow the rules, you participate, and if you don’t, you don’t,” he said, saying it was the most frustrating recreation issue he’d encountered as a commissioner.

Buzz Berry, who helped establish the skate park through the Appalachian Skatepark Council, said the issue was the knee pads that limit skaters’ movements. He said the rule makers didn’t understand the sport, even though the rules were established by the N.C. General Assembly.

Berry said the skate park council was willing to provide supervision, charge a small fee for park users, and use the money to pay the attendant and pay off the loan for the ramps and other equipment.

Berry said the park was in “very good shape” and the skaters take pride in the facility. He said the county shouldn’t consider taking the park away and said it would be a shame because he and others wanted to provide something for the community. “These are good kids,” Berry said.

“The legislature made the law,” Deal said. “We didn’t make the law. We can’t enforce part of the law.”

“It’s not a matter of what’s practical,” Capua said. “It’s a matter of what the county’s responsibility is under the laws of North Carolina.”

Berry also asked about leasing the property so the council could operate the park. Deal said he was concerned about the off-site skating and some of the skaters’ behavior, particularly in the parking lot and “the attitude they have about it.”

“It’s more than just the pads,” Deal said. “The ‘more’ is what concerns the recreation commission.”

County manager Rocky Nelson said the county had been setting aside $25,000 a year to expand the skate park, with the original agreement requiring the park users to follow the rules. He said if money hadn’t been used to hire a security firm and attendants, “we’d be well on our way to Phase Two.”

Brian Mueller, who helped install the skate park, said the recreation commission’s mission statement stated programs should help people reach their full potential and “be rewarding for all Watauga County citizens.”

Mueller proposed delaying action on the skate park, saying other areas had created public skate parks that worked. “Our kids are not bad kids,” Mueller said. “They need guidance, just like all kids.”

“We’re on about our fourth or fifth second chance,” Deal said. “That’s what frustrating about all this.”

Deal said nobody wanted to close the park, but eventually there would be consequences if people didn’t follow the rules. He also said county personnel had “bent over backwards” to make the park work.

The commissioners voted unanimously to defer a decision on the park until June, requesting a daily report on park usage.