PORT ANGELES — As summer brings warmer weather and bluer skies, so too does it bring more complaints of bike-riders using the Port Angeles Skate Park.
Port Angeles police say, though, bike use at the all-concrete park across Race Street from Civic Field so far this summer is not as common as it has been in past years.
“Right now, I think we’re in decent shape,” said Brian Smith, deputy Port Angeles police chief.
“It’s a normal increase as the kids get out of school.”
Smith said police have fielded a handful of complaints so far this summer, though nothing out of the ordinary for the time of year.
“It’s not nearly like it was in 2011,” Smith said.
As the spring of 2011 started, police stepped up their presence at the skate park to ensure visitors knew bikes were not allowed in the park’s concrete bowls.
“In 2011, I think we locked the place up a couple of times,” Smith said.
“That’s a pretty extreme thing to do.”
No such measures have yet been needed this year, Smith said, though repeat offenders run the risk of paying a $60-$100 fine and even getting their bikes taken away.
“I don’t know that anyone has forced us to [seize a bike],” Smith said.
Police have increased patrols of the area, Smith said, after city Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat relayed complaints he had heard to police.
“[Delikat] has asked us to increase police presence, and we’re doing that,” Smith said.
The vast majority teenagers seen using bikes at the skate park stop when officers talk with them about bike use not being allowed, Smith said.
For example, Smith said he recently spoke with four teenagers, likely between 12 and 13 years old, he saw riding bikes at the park.
Smith said he had never spoken with them before about this issue and explained the rules, after which they cooperated.
Police have likely issued a few citations so far this year, but Smith said those are typically reserved for those return to use bikes at the park after repeatedly being told not to.
Delikat said bike use is specifically prohibited at the skate park because the bike’s metal components can chip the concrete bowls and because of the danger of bikers and skateboarders colliding.
“They can get [going] so much faster on a bike,” Delikat said.
Teenagers on bikes have been visiting the park practically since it was opened in 2005, Delikat said, adding that increased police presence helps reduce the numbers but will like never stop it.
“Any given day, if I’m over at Civic Field, I can look across the street and see a dozen bikes flying around,” Delikat said.
Port Angeles’ Nor’Wester Rotary Club sponsored the construction of the $200,000 skate park.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
