An effort to bring a new-and-improved skate park to Philomath came into a little bit better focus Monday night with the City Council’s approval of a conceptual design along with a decision that a rebuild would occur at the same location.
But even though the visuals are now in place, questions remain on how the city’s game plan will come together to pay for the project. The latest projection as estimated through the recently-completed feasibility study came in at just over $600,000.
Chelsea Starner, assistant city manager, took councilors through work that has been done to date through the Park Advisory Board’s involvement and with the completion of the feasibility study and conceptual design by Grindline Skateparks.
“What’s important to note is this is a conceptual design,” Starner told councilors. “We will have, obviously, a final design phase where it would be looked at more and the Park board would look at it more and hopefully invite some other folks.”
Starner said the current skate park, which opened during the summer of 2000, is basically obsolete.
“There’s nothing really there for people to actively skate on,” she said, later adding in response to a councilor seeking a comparison, “It’s not as if you’re replacing the current skate park that has great active features that people enjoy using just to replace it. It really does need to be decommissioned one way or another.”
A local awareness campaign and show of support through an online survey and during meetings led to the city in the direction of identifying a new skate park as a priority project. Early last year, the city received a grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for the work that Grindline Skateparks completed.
A company based in Seattle, Grindline completed an evaluation of three possible sites with two of those in Philomath City Park — the current location and directly on the other side of Newton Creek. The third site studied was in an area behind City Hall. Grindline concluded that the current site was the best option “to support a cast-in-place concrete skate park with amenities.”
Discussions three years ago included skate park construction estimates in the range of $250,000 to $300,000. Grindline’s probable cost came in at $603,478.51.
City Manager Chris Workman mentioned revenue opportunities, including applying for a future Oregon Parks and Recreation’s Local Government Grant Program, which typically awards over $5 million annually statewide. The voter-approved program relies on state lottery funds.
Workman had suggestions on putting together a strong application that stresses things like community involvement and local fundraising efforts as well as the existence of a significant match with the city’s budgeted amount of $300,000.
Workman said an application as early as the 2025 grant cycle could be a possibility following a year of awareness and fundraising campaigns. With a grant process that typically takes six to nine months, actual construction on a new skate park would likely at a minimum be two years away.
“That’s a loose time frame but that’s what I’ve got envisioned in my mind … that’s subject to hit fast forward or pausing and pushing it out a little bit as well,” he said.
Workman said there are smaller grants that also exist that could put more money in the pot but councilors did have questions about the level of local fundraising that could be accomplished. In other words, would the passion for a new skate park carry over into trying to raise money?
“I think there are a lot of resources,” Starner said. “We just need to try to get a couple of champions to take it on and see if they can snowball it.”
Councilor Christopher McMorran, who has a background serving on budget committees for various governmental entities, had questions about post-construction financial impacts.
“If we’re doing this, I want to make sure we can afford to keep it nice and also keep the rest of our parks nice,” he said. “I don’t want to build something that’s going to be neglected and fall apart.”
The audience included two individuals with an interest in the skate park project, including one enthusiast who offered perspectives that included insights on maintenance and longevity.
The idea of building a pump track came up during the discussion. A pump track is a circular loop for cyclists with a series of rollers and banked turns that allow riders to generate momentum through “pumping” (up-and-down body movements) instead of pedaling or pushing. But constraints with space and cost as outlined by the city manager cooled the possibility.
In other news out of the Jan. 22 meeting:
• The mayor and city manager awarded certificates of appreciation to Public Works employees Andrew Turner and Lige Weedman and Philomath Police Officer Jim Weikel for exceptional service to Philomath during the recent ice storm. (More to come in this week’s Three Things column).
• The council unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the state’s Department of Consumer and Business Services to continue using the ePermitting System for building permits. In their Jan. 8 meeting, councilors had questions and opted to not take a vote. City Recorder Ruth Post, who was not able to attend the earlier meeting, provided answers to the council’s satisfaction and a motion to approve passed with no discussion.
• The council granted the city manager authorization to execute a personal services agreement with Beery, Elsner & Hammond, the city’s new legal services team. Councilors had questions seeking clarification on a few points while looking through a draft version of the document and passed the motion on a 7-0 vote.
• The council discussed and nominated individuals for this year’s Samaritan Awards, including those in the First Citizen categories. The awards will be presented during a Feb. 15 event.
• Workman updated the council on Strategic Plan progress in October through December as a quarterly review approaches in the coming weeks.
• McMorran volunteered to serve in a leadership position on a new Scenic Byway Corridor Management Committee. Philomath was part of an effort in 2016 to designate Highway 34 between Interstate 5 and Waldport as a scenic byway and the committee was formed to reengage interested parties.
• Councilors reported positive interactions with the public during their new Councilor Coffee sessions on the third Saturday each month. The next date in the series will be at 9-10:30 a.m. Feb. 17 at Timber Towne Coffee.
• Councilors will gather again on Saturday morning at City Hall for justice, equality, diversity and inclusion training with a facilitator from Western Oregon University.
