ARLINGTON – For Chris Raezer, the four-year wait and $340,000 price tag for Arlington’s new skate park will be worth it.
Raezer, a 43-year-old skateboarder, had lobbied city officials since 2001 to build a skate park. The idea circulated months before that.
On Saturday, weather permitting, the years of planning will pay off. The city has scheduled a celebration starting at noon that will include demonstrations from professional skaters, live bands and a ceremony opening the park to the public. The new park is at the southeast corner of 59th Avenue NE and 188th Street NE.
The park’s designers at Grindline Skateparks of Seattle have said Arlington is getting a design that breaks new ground in this state.
Raezer agrees.
“It’s way beyond what I ever expected we’d get,” he said.
The feature attraction for the most experienced skaters is a 16-foot-diameter full pipe. Shaped like half of a cold capsule, Grindline is touting the full pipe as the state’s first.
But you won’t have to be an expert to enjoy Arlington’s skate park, Raezer said. It has built-in variety.
“There’s bowls and a street section with stairs and ledges designed to replicate a downtown street,” Raezer said.
City Councilwoman Marilyn Oertle said the lesson Arlington learned researching other skate parks across the country was to get design advice from skaters.
“You don’t want some wimpy thing that nobody wants,” Oertle said.
“The good parks get a lot of use all the time,” Raezer agreed. “A so-so park, people check it out a couple of times. If they don’t like it, they won’t come back.”
It helped greatly that the designers at Grindline are skaters, Raezer said.
Arlington will stand out compared with other parks in the area, he said. Arlington’s is concrete, while many others are modular components with wooden or steel frames.
Concrete initially costs more but is cheaper to maintain because it doesn’t break down in the weather as quickly, Raezer said.
Marysville has a concrete park, but it features more street-style skating. Fans of bowls, such as Raezer, have had to go to Everett – until now.
Construction costs for the 8,000-square-foot skate park were $291,000, with another $49,000 to cover site preparation, design costs and parking, Paul Ellis, the city’s capital projects manager, said in an e-mail.
Oertle said the city is trying to get Community Transit to restore a bus route that used to pass the intersection. The city is also talking about building a trail from the park down 188th Street NE to the new Centennial Trail along 67th Avenue NE, she said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
Skate park opens
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: The corner of 59th Avenue NE and 188th Street NE in Arlington.
What: The celebration will include live bands, demonstrations by professional skaters, food and prizes, followed by open skating for the public.
Note: The event could be postponed if it rains.
Skate park opens
When: Noon Saturday
Where: The corner of 59th Avenue NE and 188th Street NE in Arlington
What: The celebration will include live bands, demonstrations by professional skaters, food and prizes, followed by open skating for the public.
Note: The event could be postponed if it rains.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
