Friday, Aug. 24, 2007 | 7:40 a.m.
When Clark County starts charging a fee at one of its skate parks, users are bound to be upset.
But some who don't even use the park are wary of the new fee as well, seeing it as a step toward forcing residents to pay for currently free facilities.
County commissioners on Tuesday approved a $3-a-day fee at Hollywood Skate Park, currently free for skateboarders, BMX bikers and in-line skaters. Monthly passes will be available for $30.
The parks department estimates the fee will bring in $100,000 annually, which will help offset the cost of supervision at Hollywood. Now, three "skate guards" typically watch over activities at the park during operating hours.
The $3 million park opened in April and is the newest and largest of the county's 14 skate parks, which attract skaters and bikers from throughout the region.
More important to some opponents of the fee, however, is the precedent that it could set. Indeed, that's part of the motive behind it, according county parks Director Leonard Cash.
"We also plan to implement similar measures like this at other parks, with your direction," Cash told commissioners. "This right now is really our test park to see if we can protect this park and do the right thing."
That has some residents concerned, and not just skaters. Commissioner Chip Maxfield is one of them.
To him, it's a slippery slope. First you charge a fee for skate parks, then maybe basketball courts and then perhaps tennis courts.
"Where does it end?" Maxfield said.
After all, taxpayers already paid to build the facility. Government is double dipping when it then charges them another fee to use it, he argued.
"I'm just not comfortable with that," Maxfield said.
Parks department officials say Cash was referring only to other skate parks when he mentioned possible similar measures at other parks - specifically, the larger skate facilities at Winchester, Cambridge and Desert Breeze parks.
At Desert Breeze, where the skate park is set off from the recreation center and is unsupervised, the parks department has struggled unsuccessfully to fend off graffiti, vandalism and territorial groups of skaters that county officials and local skaters say occasionally harass those trying to use the park. Park police have responded to nearly 200 calls at the park during the past six months, officials said.
Supervision is necessary for such skate parks, the department says, in the same way lifeguards are a necessity at community swimming pools.
Incidents of vandalism and harassment, however, are fewer at places such as Hollywood and Winchester, where users must sign in at the recreation center before passing through a door that is the sole entrance to the skate park.
To push through the proposed fee at Hollywood, parks officials told commissioners that users actually wanted it.
"Skating and bike enthusiasts at Hollywood have not only supported a fee, they've asked for it because they realize it attracts people who are truly interested in skating and biking," said Steven Corry, assistant director of the parks department.
Corry, however, wasn't at the park Wednesday evening, where no enthusiasm for the fee was in sight.
"Who would want that?" said Joseph Weghorst, a 21-year-old skateboarder. "That's just an excuse to get people to pay."
Although none of the skaters who spoke with the Sun said he wanted the fee, a few of the 20 or so skaters at the park said they would still use the park, although less often.
For Ronnie Adams, 14, the $3 fee will add up fast. He skates at the park almost every day.
"I won't come as much," he said. "The park is going to be dead."
Others said they would stop coming altogether.
"I've been here since the beginning," said Kevyn Solarez, 14, who lives nearby. "If they start charging a fee, I'm not going to skate here anymore."
Park officials said a "scholarship" will be made available for those who cannot afford the fee. Details are still being worked out.
One reason the county has built skate parks is to keep skaters out of shopping plazas and office centers. Deep gashes in the skate park's concrete show why that can be a wise investment.
David Preciado, 14, might return to his old turf at nearby Las Vegas High School. He jests that he was on the "most wanted" list of school security, which regularly chased him off the property.
The fee at Hollywood won't go into effect for a few weeks, to give the public notice, officials said.
Las Vegas and Henderson do not charge fees for their skate parks. North Las Vegas is building its first skate park, which will be free.
"Our council is extremely sensitive to making sure cost isn't a barrier to accessibility," said Mike Henley, North Las Vegas' director of parks and recreation.
County park officials say they realized during design and construction of Hollywood that a fee would be necessary. So why wasn't one charged from the start?
"We didn't have the real consensus with commissioners yet," Corry said.
That goes to another issue behind the debate. In the case of Hollywood, the county failed to plan for all of the facility's operating costs.
Cash said that would change for future projects.
"What I am recommending as part of the planning process is even before we build a park that has an enhanced feature, that the board approve fees," he said.
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