Council Calls for Skate Park Design Bids

A large crowd of young and older skateboard enthusiasts cheered at  Monday night after the  members approved the first step toward building what they said would be a "world-class skate park" in Malibu. The city has been without a skate park .

The council voted 5-0 to issue a request for proposals, or RFP, for design services. The city budgeted up to $40,000 for the consultant.

Several people addressed the council in favor of building a skate park, and they spoke about the benefits of the sport that has grown in popularity in recent years. But the supporters also heard from the people who could be their opposition. A group of women, many of them involved in a tai-chi program at , were bothered that the city favors the city park as the best location for the facility.

"The park itself is used by walkers, joggers [and] people going around the park with their dogs all the time," Jean Heneghan told the council. "And if any of you are familiar with it or have hiked or just sat at the end of the Whale's Tail in the area for viewing, you would know this is an impossible place to put a skate park."

Council member , who is on the ad-hoc committee that determined Bluffs Park was the best site, said the location was not set in stone. Residents will be able to voice their opinions on the design and location of the facility at public hearings.

Council member Lou La Monte said he favored Bluffs Park as the location.

"Bluffs Park is the place to put this," he said. "This is where kids need to play. They're there already—playing soccer, they're there doing little league."

Jim Thorsen said that even in the most optimistic scenario, the building of a skate park was at least 15 months away. A temporary site using the ramps and other equipment from Papa Jack's, is expected to be installed soon at the Bluffs Park parking lot.

The city is in negotiation with the representatives of Richard Ackerman, who owns the adjacent Crummer site, about using a portion of his property for parking to offset the loss of spaces at Bluffs Park.  Director Bob Stallings told Malibu Patch after the meeting that Ackerman's team was reviewing the latest version of the agreement.