Mountlake Terrace teens, families petition for skateboard park within city

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Skateboarding is not a crime if it’s being done at a skateboard park.

But the problem for Mountlake Terrace teens is there isn’t a skateboard park there, so they end up jumping curbs at any open parking lot they can find, only to be confronted by property owners or police.

Nathan Hoffman, 14, of Mountlake Terrace, was tired of getting kicked out of an area because he was practicing his chosen sport and at the same time being yelled at by adults who assume he is up to some sort of mischief just because he is a teen with a skateboard.

So he asked his mom, Machelle Hoffman, what he should do so he could ride his skateboard and not be judged wrongly.

She suggested he approach the City Council about adding a skateboard park to the recreation department, and that’s just what he did.

From there, the City Council delegated the recreation-parks advisory commission to look into it, which in turn formed a citizen fact-finding subcommittee to investigate the possibility.

Nathan Hoffman is the youngest member of that subcommittee. Along with Hoffman is Russ Heppner, 20, a Mountlake Terrace resident who for his senior project at Terrace High, started a Skate Church at his church, Cedar Park Assembly of God in Bothell.

Heppner started the Skate Church because he wanted to let more young people know “that Jesus Christ loves them,” he said.

“Eventually when skateboarding isn’t the popular sport, the skate park will be torn down or rot away and the next new thing will come along,” Heppner said. This is why he started the Skate Church and why he also thinks it’s important to have a facility in Mountlake Terrace for teens – a safe place for them to skateboard.

The church wants to be a partner with the city, said Cedar Park Pastor Joseph Fuiten.

According to Heppner, one of the things the church would need from the city for a skate park is land and/or a building for a possible indoor skate park.

This isn’t a new venture for the church. Church leaders are trying for a similar partnership with the city of Kirkland. The church also owns and has a lot of its own land, skateboard ramps and equipment it would use for a new Mountlake Terrace skate park.

“And the church could run the skate park,” Heppner said.

This and many other alternatives are being discussed on the city’s new subcommittee, said Mountlake Terrace’s parks and recreation director Don Sarcletti.

“It’s another option for kids to participate in and it’s popular,” Sarcletti said.

While there are other sports options for teens in Mountlake Terrace, skateboarding is something for someone who doesn’t do the typical sports program, Sarcletti said.

“It’s more individual,” he said.

The subcommittee’s main goal is to come up with some facts and other basic information about other area skateboard parks, and then discuss it with the recreation and parks advisory board, which would then make a recommendation to the City Council.

The closest skateboard park is at Lynndale Park in Lynnwood. Mill Creek will open its new skate park in September, and there are others in Seattle, Everett and farther away, Hoffman said. These places aren’t close enough for them to enjoy, Hoffman said, because so many teens who are riding skateboards aren’t old enough to drive to these locations.

Joshua Hiatt, 13, a friend of Hoffman and fellow skateboarder, said young teens in Mountlake Terrace need something just for them.

“There’s no place for us older kids to be. They re-did the pool but it’s for little kids. There’s no diving or deep end anymore,” Hiatt said.

Hiatt too said not all teens or skateboarders are trouble makers.

“It’s not us,” Hiatt said, “we’re just tryin’ to have fun, not wanting to cause any trouble.”

While the subcommittee is in its early stages, residents who are pro-skate park in Mountlake Terrace have petitioned the city to show public demand.

Along with the teens and residents in favor of the park and those from the Skate Church, the Lost Boys skate shop and its skate team in Lynnwood have also jumped on board for the quest to get a skate park in Mountlake Terrace. The groups were at Tour de Terrace and the city’s National Night Out event Aug. 5 with a mobile skate park to raise park awareness.