HOLMES BEACH – The preliminary designs are in for the city’s new cement skate park, but funds are still needed to construct the bowl addition.
Tito Porrata, lead designer and project manager with American Ramp Company, and City Engineer Lynn Burnett presented the preliminary designs for the promenade-style skate park and accompanying bowl.
Porrata said the skate park would be a beginner to intermediate street-style course featuring ramps, rails, stairs, triangles, banks, hips and a quarter pipe.
“All the basics within a modest size,” he said of the design.
The promenade section of the skate park is planned to be about 5,000 square feet.
Though Porrata said the course is good as-is, he highly recommended adding the Y-shaped bowl he designed to accompany the skate park to make it “complete.” To build the bowl, the city is still seeking a donor or multiple donors to help raise the $100,000 additional funds needed for the structure. If the bowl is to be built, construction has to take place at the same time the rest of the skate park is built to keep the cost of the addition low.
If built, Porrata said the bowl would be about three and a half to four feet deep and stick out of the ground about three feet.
“If a donor happens, this bowl is ready,” he said.
Commissioners nodded their approval of the designs and Mayor Judy Titsworth took the opportunity to ask that anyone considering helping to fund the bowl contact her at city hall.
“I hope you guys like it,” Porrata said of the skate park designs. “It’s going to be really fun.”
Final design deliverables for the skate park are expected during the July 23 commission meeting.
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