A skatepark committee in Elon returned to the grind with a formal design for a new skateboarding venue that the town’s leaders have agreed to develop on the grounds of Beth Schmidt Park.
Peter Ustach, a member of this ad hoc advisory board, trundled out this proposed design two weeks ago when he presented a report on the committee’s latest activities to Elon’s town council.
Ustach informed the council that the committee had retained a specialty design firm called Fifth Pocket Skateparks to sketch out this plan based on input from the committee’s own members as well as local skateboarding enthusiasts. He added that the Pennsylvania-based firm came back with a proposal that would accommodate both newbies and experienced skateboarders on a now vacant 1.2-acre portion of Beth Schmidt Park.
The design that Ustach went on to unveil centered on a gum-drop shaped slab of concrete with a variety of features for different skill levels. At one end of the slab was a relatively flat surface that would provide the equivalent of a bunny slope for beginners. This area gave way to an increasingly undulating landscape, with an assortment of ramps, ledges, and grind rails to test the chops of more experienced skateboarders.
Trevor Underwood, a fellow member of the committee, told the council that, in addition to offering suitable challenges for people with different abilities, this proposed design would provide a safe, durable venue to occupy skateboarders for decades to come.
“Our goal with this design is to create something the community could grow with,” he added, “so it’s going to last 30 years without needing to be touched up or fixed.”
Ustach told the town council that the committee will ultimately need $666,075 to consummate Fifth Pocket’s vision for Elon’s proposed skatepark. He noted that the committee currently has $334,000 at its disposal – thanks, in large part, to $245,000 that the council has previously set aside for this project. Ustach also pointed to another $74,575 from Impact Alamance, a nonprofit wing of Cone Health, along with $14,000 in additional private donations and roughly $45,000 in in-kind contributions.
Ustach said that he and his colleagues now hope to get the balance of the revenue it needs from North Carolina’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, which has $10 million to distribute this year among recreation projects in different parts of the state. He added that, in its application the state-maintained trust fund, the committee will be able to apply the revenue that it has already raised to meet the mandated 50 percent match.
