PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Skate Park will be closed Monday through Wednesday as a warning to bicyclists and foot-scooter enthusiasts to observe the law and stay away from the Race Street attraction.
Only skateboarders and skaters are allowed to use the park.
City officials are temporarily shutting down the Port Angeles facility after receiving an increasing number of complaints over safety issues between bicyclists and skateboarders and concerns over chip-damage inflicted by BMX bicycle equipment, city Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said Thursday.
“Our main reason is for safety,” he said.
“I’ve seen a dozen bikes flying around in there, and you’ve got little kids trying to skateboard.
“We’ve always had the issue, but it’s never been this bad.”
Delikat said city employees and residents also have been harassed while attempting to police bicycle and scooter use.
Similar problems have not occurred at skate parks in Forks, Sequim and Port Townsend, officials in those cities said Thursday.
Signs posted
Several signs are posted at the park across from Civic Field warning cyclists and scooter-users that they cannot use the facility.
“We have removed bicyclists from the park on multiple occasions and have advised users if they cannot self-police the park, other steps will be taken,” Police Chief Terry Gallagher said.
“We’ve told users of the park a number of times that closure of the park is likely if they don’t respect the rules.”
Under the city municipal code, offenders can be fined $75.
Gallagher said the park has been shut down twice for 24 hours since it opened in 2005 to prod park users into complying with the rule.
While complaints over bicycle-skateboarder conflicts have increased in recent months, a confrontation between a Nor’Wester Rotary member and skate park bicycle users about two weeks ago triggered the temporary closure, Delikat said.
The organization sponsored construction of the $200,000 facility and still polices it, said Doc Reiss, a club past president.
Reiss was co-organizer of the effort to build the skate park and monitors activities there.
Not suitable for bikes
He said the designer of the facility, Dreamland Skateparks LLC, said the park is not suitable for bicycles, which could damage the surface.
“I’ve stopped by there several times, and most of the time, when kids are on bikes, I say, ‘Excuse me, you’re not supposed to have bicycles in the park,’ and they leave,” Reiss said Thursday.
“Now, we have a group of six to eight older teenagers who are saying no one has the authority to get them out of the park, and they are not leaving.”
It was expected that the young people who use the park would use peer pressure to get BMX riders to leave, Reiss said.
That does not work when there is an age disparity.
“No 9- or 10-year-old is going to go against an 18-year-old and tell them to get out of the park,” Reiss said.
He said he recently stopped by the park and saw two older teenage boys, one of whom had about 4-inch pegs on the back of his bike for doing stunts.
“They were in the bowl shooting a video, and one of them told me, ‘If you throw us out, we’re going to go someplace and sell drugs. We’re doing this to make money,’” Reiss said.
“I had my age, character, my family all disparaged.
“I was given a wave of the hand, and he was not using all his fingers.
“I was told if I did not get out of the park, they told me there were going to ‘F’ me up.”
Reiss also said a parks department employee was spat on when he tried to prevent bicyclists from using the facility.
Reiss and skate park co-organizer Steve Zenovic are working on designing an entrance that will block bicycles from entering the park.
“My idea is a turnstile, but we’re looking at a variety of things,” Reiss said.
Reiss said it was partially his suggestion that the skate park temporarily close.
“We’re not against bicycles; we’re just against bicycles in the park,” he said.
PT, Sequim, Forks
At the Port Townsend Skateboard Park, bicycles are allowed, but scooters are not, Public Works Director Ken Clow said Thursday.
“What has turned out is that we get very little bicycle or scooter use,” Clow said.
Joe Irvin, Sequim assistant city manager-parks manager, said only skateboarders and bicyclists are allowed, not foot-scooter enthusiasts.
Irvin has not received a call or complaint from cyclists or skateboarders in the past 18 months
“There are no conflicts between skateboarders and bicycles,” he said.
Bicyclists and scooter-users are not allowed at the Forks skateboard park. Violators face fines of up to $100.
Fines have never been imposed.
“We haven’t had any real problem with them trying to use their bikes at the skateboard park,” Forks Police Administrator Rick Bart said.
“They kind of police themselves, which is nice.”
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
