What to Consider When Designing a Skatepark

Opening a skate park in your own neighborhood is the dream of all avid skateboarders. This gives skateboarders a safe place to enjoy their sport away from busy streets. It provides a venue for skaters to meet and practice their skills and keeps kids active. You can design and build a skate park in your area with some forward planning.

  1. Finding Land

    • Start by finding a suitable plot of land. You can write to the local municipality to determine if there is government land that can be utilized for a skatepark. Local schools and community centers can also be approached for help. Retail centers like shopping malls have also been known to install skateparks to encourage families to shop and spend time there. Write letters to all the concerned parties and contact your local city counselor for help obtaining a suitable site for your skatepark. Choose a site with natural undulating landscape that can be molded into a skatepark.

    Doing the Paperwork

    • Once you have found several suitable locations, contact your local government to find out about the zoning laws that apply to the plots of land. Ensure that you are able to build a skatepark in your desired location. Choose the location that is closest to a school. Avoid industrial or business districts. Organize insurance and any licenses that your local government may require for the operation of a skatepark. You can find information on the necessary paperwork by contacting your local government or visiting their website.

    Materials

    • Decide on the materials you will use to create your skatepark. Approach businesses in your area for donations of recycled materials. You can also contact the parents at local schools for contributions. Lumber, cement, asphalt or old fiberglass pools will all come in handy. Organize donations into a database so that they can be used during the design phase.

    Survey your Users

    • Conduct a survey at the local schools. Compile a questionnaire to find out the ages, levels and numbers of skateboarders in your area. Ask students what they would like in a skatepark, what style they would like the skatepark to be and for ideas on design. You can have a design competition where you give prizes for the best skatepark design. If you are having trouble getting permission from your local government, use this opportunity to bolster your campaign with a petition from supporters of the skatepark.

    Raising Funds

    • Hold events, competitions or raffles to raise cash for the skatepark. Get the skateboarding community involved in fundraising events. Include the skateboarders in the process so that they feel like the park is theirs and have a sense of pride in their achievements. Let them make their own fundraising suggestions. Get local businesses involved in donating funds to the skatepark.

    Bringing it Together

    • Calculate your budget based on the funds you have raised. Use the donations and the materials you have collected in planning your skatepark. If you have enough money, find a designer online. A professional designer is well worth the capital outlay. Review the results of your survey to determine what kind of features your park will have. Ideally, you will want to have areas for beginners, intermediate and advanced skaters. There should be lots of space to avoid crowding. Include ramps, walls and rails. Features should be separated by at least 10 feet of flat surface so that skaters can build up speed between one feature and the next. Features in the surrounding landscape such as stairs, rails, pavements and walls can all be incorporated into the design. Many community-minded designers have posted plans and design elements on the Internet which you can download for free. Plans for every conceivable skatepark feature abound online and should be used in planning your park. Solicit the help of skateboarders or parents who have basic engineering, design or landscaping knowledge.