Skaters for Portland Skateparks

It will be 2011 at least before we see another parks levy on the ballot. Subject to passage of the levy at that point we may see additional building considered. Meanwhile, we can organize and fundraise at a grassroots level and there is no reason not to think about what to build. Send us your ideas and we’ll post them for discussion. Consult the 19 skatepark page to see what size park is proposed for the site you are interested in. If you hold your pointer over a picture of the park, text will pop up with the proposed skatespot size.

People have started to express interest in various sites of Portland’s proposed 19 skatepark network. In particular, neighbors have started to advocate for the Woodstock, Kenton and Fernhill sites. See a concept from Tyler for the Lents Park site after the turn. Constructive criticism encouraged.

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Join Portland Parks in the celebration of Portland’s new skate plaza at Ed Benedict Park, Saturday, May 30, 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Event Schedule
1:15 PM Ceremony: Commissioner Saltzman, Commissioner Fish, PP&R Director Zari Santner
1:30 PM Adidas/Tribute Skateboards Skate Jam
2:00 PM Best Trick Competition
2:30 PM PP&R Skate Jam Invitational (grades K-8 and 9-12)

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Five down, fourteen to go. Portland’s Ed Benedict skate plaza opened to the public last weekend with little fanfare but a lot of enthusiasm. Designed by Newline Skateparks and built by California Skateparks the plaza-style park features a variety of bank, ledge and gap terrain and a miniramp-style section at one of the entrances. Dan Garland designed several skateable art obstacles under the concept Tread Lightly. The design also includes stormwater treatment features incorporated as gaps.

The facility is located at Ed Benedict Park in SE Portland at about 109th and SE Powell Blvd.

Thanks to Rich Burton of Earth Patrol Media for the photo.

Lots of cool stuff going in at the Ed Benedict site. Here are a few shots of the half-pipe in the rain. Still not open.

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Skate and Annoy and Earth Patrol Media both have October 23rd photos of the progress on Ed Benedict.

Lots of progress on Ed Benedict skate plaza as of October 14th. More photos over at Skate and Annoy.

California Skateparks is making good progress on the Newline Skateparks Ed Benedict project.

More phone cam shots at Skate and Annoy.

Here’s an update from February 26th on Portland’s next two skateparks:

Gabriel had its Development Permit submitted on January 17th and it should have be approved by now. Airspeed will start digging around in Gabriel Park next week!

Ed Benedict’s Development Permit is slated to be submitted in early March and Parks thinks that should have that approved by the end of April. Its sounding like New Line/California Skateparks will be able to develop a much larger sq. footage than the original 8500, although the final size is still being negotiated. They are confident that all the “transitional” elements that were in the final design concept presented to the public will be included in the final design.

So we might have two more skateparks by the end of summer.

New Line Skateparks presented a design for the Ed Benedict Skate Plaza tonight. Pretty exciting stuff. Click on the images to see them larger. The design features a series of interconnecting paths with a variety of stair, ramp, ledge and gap features with some transition features at the ends including a 60 foot long snaking miniramp. The design is still in it’s early stages and there are details to work out. New Line is open to addtional input. You can also comment on the plaza design on Portland Parks website until 11/30/07. They will pass your comments on to NewLine.

The design is large, the plaza area is 14,000 square feet, with about 3000 square feet of entry/transition elements on each end. This is much larger than the contract originally called for but makes good practical use of the available space and includes green stormwater management features and improvements to the site that will make the park an attractive addition to the neighborhood. It looks like it would also exceed budget for the project which might necessitate either a phased approach or additional funds.

The big black pucks are just placeholders for the Percent for Art component which could be anywhere in the park. Skater Dan Garland has been awarded the commission and showed concepts for skateable art at the meeting.

New Line will consider feedback on the plan and generate a final design which will be considered by California Skateparks who will construct the park and return with a cost estimate.

It would be really great if funds could be found to fully realize this park in a single throw.

A concept sketch from the original proposal. Click to see it larger with inspiration images.

Kyle Dion from New Line Skateparks also sent these notes along.

Here’s a quick summary of the meeting and what’s happening next from our end. Overall I think the public meeting went very well. There was great attendance and some very healthy discussion regarding this park. I believe that there was an overall consensus of the design direction moving forward. Based on the feedback here is a quick summary of the direction we’ll be heading:

The meeting was good and Kyle and Mark Van der Zahn were very articulate and engaging. We’re in good hands.