Plans for bicycle track, skate park roll forward

The Oldsmar parks board signs off on the two projects after they are relocated. The City Council's approval is still needed.

By JULIE CHURCH

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 13, 2001

OLDSMAR -- The city's Parks and Recreation Board on Monday night recommended that officials move forward with plans for a skate park and a bicycle motocross track in different locations.

On Tuesday, Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Rives will present the City Council with a Bicentennial Park site plan that includes a skateboarding area, but moves it to the southeast corner of the park, far from homes on Lafayette Boulevard.

The council rejected a plan last month that placed the area, a contoured concrete pad known as a skate wave, near the front of the park. Homeowners on Lafayette Boulevard had complained that it would increase noise and traffic.

The plan was sent back to staffers for revisions and three new plans were unveiled at a public hearing May 30. Although several people spoke out against a skate wave at that time, the small group of residents attending Monday's meeting mostly supported the plan that places the skateboarding area behind basketball and tennis courts.

"There is not a doubt in my mind that this thing will get used," Oldsmar resident Thomas Morgan said. "It's nice to see the kids get something they want."

The parks and recreation board also voted Monday to change the planned location of a bicycle motocross, or BMX, track in Canal Park, after receiving a letter May 29 from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, also known as Swiftmud, rejecting a proposal to build a 1,200-foot dirt track on 75 acres owned by the district.

Rives said the only other area in Canal Park that could be used for a bicycle track would be 3 acres near the entrance of the park that is planned for basketball and tennis courts.

"There is enough space there to do it (build the track) and realistically it is the only other place to do it," Rives said.

If the City Council approves the new site plan, the BMX track will be built with a grant from the American Bicycle Association for $50,600 in services and materials.

Construction at Bicentennial Park is expected to start by fall. Plans for the BMX track should be ready to go before the City Council in July. Rives said both facilities should fulfill a need for more children's activities in Oldsmar.

"We need additional recreation areas in this city that aren't for team sports," Rives said Tuesday. "There are a large percentage of children in Oldsmar who don't play team sports."

- Staff writer Julie Church can be reached at (727) 445-4229.

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