Union City plans on a park for parkless skateboarders

August 01, 2001

By Meghan Ward
STAFF WRITER

UNION CITY -- Back when Phil Sachs was a kid, skateboards were used for transportation.

Today, Sachs can't wait to try his hand -- or foot -- at the concrete mounds and pyramids that will adorn the $494,000 skate park the city is planning to construct in William Cann Civic Center Park.

"My skateboard was a short little thing that was hard as a rock," said Sachs, public works superintendent for the city. "We didn't do tricks on them. Now they have shock absorbers, they are concave, they are lighter."

At 19,000 square feet, the park is much larger than Fremont's temporary skate park, and it will cost twice as much as the one Newark plans to build. Union City's park also will exceed the ones in Pleasanton, San Leandro, Milpitas and Palo Alto in size. Regionally, only Dublin's will surpasses it.

The boundaries of the park are the creek fence, the parking lot, the church property line and the bridge over the flood control area.

Construction is projected to begin this fall with completion scheduled for next summer.

The approved plan was one of three submitted by the architect, Rob Mowat, who designed the Monterey skate park.

"It has far more use and versatility" than the other two options, Sachs said. "The others you dropped in, hit a few boxes, hit a few ramps and came back out. In this one, you can head over to the rails, the curbs, the fun boxes or the pyramids. There's a lot you can do. And the kids are so creative. You never know what they'll come up with."

In case they come up with anything too outrageous, the City Council will pass an ordinance that requires them to wear helmets and pads, Sachs said. And if that's not enough to keep them under control, the police department will be a stone's throw away.

"I think what has happened in our society is skaters have been abused," Sachs said. "We need to do something for that group of individuals. They can't skate on sidewalks; they can't skate anywhere. It's not going to go away. It's been here since the '60s and it's still here."

Because the park will be built next to City Hall, parking could become problematic. Sachs said the city is hoping students will walk across the street from James Logan High School or take nearby BART to prevent too much congestion. If all else fails, the city has plans to expand City Hall parking as part of a separate project, Sachs said.

"We've been working on this since 1994 and I'm glad to see it's finally making some progress," he added.