Boulder City to upgrade skate park

By Jean Reid Norman

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

The skateboard facility at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City will get a facelift by Christmas.

The Boulder City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a recommendation for new ramps and rails to replace wood structures that have been in place for eight years, Parks and Recreation Director Roger Hall said.

“The equipment is getting pretty old,” Hall said. “The wood is not doing well in the sun.”

The new equipment will be made of steel to better stand up under the desert weather, Hall said.

The city will spend $50,000 of a Clark County grant it received last year on the new equipment. The work has to be completed by the end of December, Hall said.

“I think the kids will get a nice Christmas present in Boulder City,” he said.

Hall had hoped to do more at the skate park, but said additional money he had hoped to get from another county grant this fiscal year did not come through.

To save money, the city decided to seek bids for both designing and building the project, hoping that companies that want the city’s business will offer extras in the process.

Four companies applied, and city staff plans to recommend the City Council hire American Ramp Co. to do the work.

“It’s really a great design,” Hall said. It will use three-sixteenths-thick steel riding surfaces, which will provide for a smooth ride, and a polyester powder coat grip system with no screws or other fasteners.

Features will include:

• A 6-foot reinforced skate bench to be used for jumping and grinding.

• A 4-foot half-pipe with ramps to take riders to the top. Guard rails will be included on the top level for safety, Hall said.

• A 2-foot grind box in the middle of the course that includes a metal rail on top and several edges to approach it at several angles.

• A pyramid section with a wedge section in the middle and a grind rail on top.

• A small ramp with a picnic table.

“You know, the kids love to jump and grind on the sides of picnic tables,” Hall said. “They can grind the whole length of the picnic table.”

Manny Hein, 20, a Boulder City resident who said he uses the skate park at Veterans Memorial Park about three times a week, said it is ready for some work. He pointed out surfaces on the ramps that are chipped and other parts that have been patched.

“It’s pretty old,” he said. “The wood is getting soft and it needs to be replaced.”

Hein said that Boulder City’s skate park, while small, is pretty good. Not good enough to attract riders from Las Vegas, maybe, but that’s OK with him. It keeps the crowds down.

“It’s nothing anyone talks about,” he said. “But it’s good.”