By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Funding for a new skateboard park was the focus of a series of questions recently raised by a member of the Del Rio Parks Foundation.
Jake Carsten, a member of the Del Rio Parks Foundation, asked Del Rio City Council members about the funding for the skateboard park during the citizen comments portion of the council’s March 14 meeting.
The parks foundation is a local non-profit whose mission is “enriching the quality of life for the community through the development of outdoor park and recreational spaces” in the city, according to its web site.
Carsten told the council, “I’m here as a member of the skate park committee for the Del Rio Parks Foundation and also as a concerned citizen. We realize you can’t answer the questions we have tonight, but we want to put this out there so we can get some clarification moving forward.
“Our primary priority tonight is to get some clarification and get some questions out regarding the skate park, so the first is the budget. We’ve been told the budget is $180,000 or $200,000, but our open records request indicates that it’s $250,000 and in the capital improvement plan, so we’re trying to get some clarification on if it’s the full $250,000 or is it a different number?” Carsten asked.
Timeline questions
Carsten also had questions about the timeline for the construction of the park.
“We’re told those funds have to be spent this year, and we’re not sure if that means this fiscal year or this calendar year. What happens if those funds aren’t spent? What if the project is started and not finished?” he asked.
“We’d like to better understand what all those scenarios are and what the future impacts are since the contractor hasn’t been hired yet, and we only have, like, six months left in the fiscal year. So to do the full plan, design and build, it’s probably going to take some time, and we’re probably pressing up against that time line right now,” he said.
Carsten also asked about the location of the new park
“There’s been a lot of questions about the location. There was talk about it moving from the San Felipe Creek area, but it sounds like now it’s back at the San Felipe Creek, but we want to know if it’s actually going to be the same site (as the existing skate park), and the big reason is because the current site has a 10,000-square-foot slab, and if we move the site, they have to pour a new 10,000-square-foot slab, which will substantially eat into the budget of the quarter million (budgeted for the project), to the tune of about $50,000 to $80,000, which means that much less for ride-able features, so moving (the site), we’d like to understand what’s up with that and what that’s going to do to the budget and the ride-ability,” Carsten told the council.
“We’d like to have some conversations with the design firms to see what we can we actually do for the amount we’re going to have, especially if it’s moved,” he added.
He also addressed a concern about parking.
“Our understanding is there’s been talk about bulldozing the skate park and putting in a parking lot, so as the foundation, we do strongly oppose eliminating recreation assets along the creek to put in parking. Literally there have been songs written about that, ‘paving paradise to put up a parking lot.’
“As I’m sure everyone knows, probably the most valuable recreation asset we have in the city is our creek, and what makes it so valuable is the green space around it, and if we start encroaching on that, the value to the citizens as a recreational asset is going to diminish, especially if we keep doing it over time,” Carsten said.
“We would suggest any decisions about eliminating recreation along the creek be held until the city’s parks and open space master plan is finished,” Carsten added.
Council members cannot interact with speakers in the citizen comments portion of the agenda or answer questions raised.
However, City Finance Director Alberta Barrett told the 830 Times after the meeting the council has approved $250,000 for the new skate park in the city’s capital improvements plan. She noted projects that aren’t finished in the calendar year in which they are budgeted are typically pushed back to the next year, and the funding is not lost or reallocated without council approval.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
