Skate park dream revisits Inverness
Other communities have built parks since the City Council first rejected the idea. Now it's reconsidering.
By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published January 10, 2005
INVERNESS - Friction arises between young skateboarders, local businesses and law enforcement in downtown Inverness.
The Inverness City Council considers building a skateboard park, a place friendly to skaters and a positive addition to the growing community.
Sound familiar?
It should.
In 1997, Scott Prentice was a 15-year-old skateboarder and student at Citrus High School. He and his friends approached the City Council, asking then-Mayor Joyce Rogers for fair treatment and a place where they could skate in peace.
Citing liability concerns, the council turned down the skate park and passed an ordinance banning skateboarding and inline skating in much of the city.
Three years later, the Florida Legislature passed a bill making it less costly for governments to open skate parks.
The county then built a skate park in Beverly Hills.
Still, the City Council decided not to build a skate park.
Now, at the start of 2005, Prentice is 23 years old and lives in California. According to his mother, he does more snowboarding than skateboarding these days.
But as the cliche goes, history repeats itself.
City Council once again is considering a skate park, and once again, the finances involved as well as the liability in the event of injuries need to be carefully considered, council members said.
Prentice may be gone, but on Saturday afternoon, the sound of skateboard wheels whizzed along concrete downtown.
Jake Bergeron, 13, Colby Adams, 13, and Carlos Boquin, 14, zipped along Main Street, heading to the Publix parking lot after being told they couldn't skate in an empty lot near the Historic Courthouse.
Adams grinned at the thought of a skate park, a place where he and his friends could go and not be told to leave.
"If they don't build one, we're just going to keep getting in trouble," he said.
The time is finally right, says Council member Jacquie Hepfer, the leader of the current push for a skate park in the city.
"Everyone sits around and says there's nothing for the kids to do," she said. "I think it's going to work. The timing is right. Attitude has changed, and Inverness has gotten younger."
Hepfer, a fan of the X Games and other extreme sports competitions, announced her plan to push for the park at the final City Council meeting of 2004.
In the last couple of weeks, she has continued to try to build allies for the park.
The carpenters at Withlacoochee Technical Institute could help, she said. Businesses could donate materials. A man with a piece of land near downtown said he might be able to donate it.
The City Council won't do it all alone, she said.
"I want the kids to buy into it," she said.
Adults, too, could enjoy the park, she insisted. During the school day, adults could eat lunch at picnic tables at the park or use it as a quiet spot to relax.
"There's no doubt in my mind that it will be well loved and well used," she said.
Young people should be encouraged to get out and exercise, and the city needs to do a better job of providing youth-oriented facilities, she said.
"Families are moving in, and they bring kids," she said.
Bergeron, Adams and Boquin wouldn't mind helping out with the park, they said. Bergeron said his mother has offered to help the city with the park, too.
That's just the sort of response Hepfer is hoping for, she said, comparing the services offered by the city to a giant patchwork quilt.
"We cater to families," she said. "The skateboard park is just one more part to make that quilt complete."
The city has not yet revisited the questions of liability should an injury occur at the skateboard park, said city attorney Denise Lyn.
"I have not done anything with the skateboard park," Lyn said. "I guess when (Hepfer) gets it to a point where she wants to bring it to the City Council, I'll look into it then."
In the years since Inverness first considered a skate park, other area governments have built their own parks.
Citrus County, Hernando County and Zephyrhills City Council are among those to build parks in recent years. All encountered the tricky issue of liability, they say.
So far, none have had the dreaded lawsuits and problems they worried about.
The Citrus County-funded park, called the Beverly Hills Community Park, was built in 1999, said county parks and recreation manager Rafael Del Valle.
"In the time that it was put in, it was probably a breakthrough in the neighborhood of Beverly Hills," he said. "When you were able to accommodate the youth in that neighborhood, it was really a big deal."
The skateboard portion of the park, which cost $130,000, was built for beginning skaters, limiting the likelihood of serious injuries, Del Valle said.
Skaters must register with the county and wear pads and helmets when skating, he said. A county employee supervises the facility, which is open after school and on the weekends, he said.
A total of 1,541 people are registered to skate at the park, and 78 different people used it in December, he said.
The biggest problem is keeping people out of the park when it's closed, he said.
Hernando County built its large skating complex two years ago, said Pat Fagan, the county's parks and recreation director.
"You wouldn't believe the usage of that park," he said.
That park, which cost $250,000 in public and private funds and donations, brings in about 100 skaters after school each day, Fagan said.
"We've taken kids off the streets," he said.
Unlike Citrus County, Hernando County dealt with the liability issue by taking a hands-off approach.
"We, first of all, don't require anybody to do anything," Fagan said.
The county posted signs explaining safety precautions to take when skateboard, but it does not force the skaters to do anything, he said.
Zephyrhills opened a skateboard park in June, said Carolyn Dean, a city employee.
More than 400 people are registered to use the park, she said. Similar to Citrus County's park, skaters are required to wear a helmet and pads as well as to put a sticker on their helmets to show they are registered, she said.
National advocates for skateboard parks say the parks have several benefits.
Among them: encouraging exercise and keeping young adults from getting into trouble, said Heidi Lemmon, executive director for SkatePark Association USA, a California-based nonprofit that helps youth persuade governmental organizations to build parks and then works with governmental bodies looking to build parks.
"To not have a skateboard park because you might face a lawsuit is just ridiculous," Lemmon said. "This is America. It's run by lawyers. Everybody sues everybody over everything."
Lemmon said she has visited skateboard parks throughout the county and encourages government to focus on unstaffed parks, both to limit liability and to encourage parents to get involved in making sure their children are safe.
"What we would like to see is the kids have the same rights as other sports," she said.
--Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com