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| Council makes first major contribution to skate park |
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| Written by John Saiz | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 23 May 2008 | |
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Skate park volunteers got their first big win Tuesday when the Patterson City Council unanimously voted to award them $15,000 to hire a skate park designer.  Right on: Patterson skaters, like Daniel Ortiz, shown at Curt Pernice Park in Ripon in September 2007, won a victory Tuesday when the City Council voted to allot $15,000 to design a skate park in town. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator Volunteers, with help from the city Parks and Recreation Department, have spent countless hours over four years to make the skate park a reality. They hope to build the 11,000-square-foot park next to the Patterson Aquatic Center on East Las Palmas Avenue. “I’m glad we’re one step closer and are getting the designs,” said Matthew Harr, a Patterson skater. With a 4-0 vote, the council decided to hire Wally Hollyday Design to design the park. Owner Wally Hollyday said he has about 15 years experience in skate park design, a path he started down somewhat by accident when cities first got interested in building the parks. His $15,000 bid on the design work was the middle bid out of three. The lowest bid was from Pillar Design Studios for $10,760, and the highest bid came from Site Design Group for $17,710. Though he was underbid by more than $4,000, Hollyday had received strong recommendations from both staff and volunteers. “He really understands you have to include the younger skaters while still appealing to the older ones,” said Adrienne Chaney, Patterson’s parks and recreation director. She became aware of Hollyday through a skate park task force the city formed that included city representatives, skaters and community activists. Other members of the task force agreed that his parks were of top quality. Skate park supporters still have a long way to go before the park becomes a reality. The $15,000 the council committed was from fees collected on recent housing developments, but it is a small part of what the total cost is expected to be. While exact figures will not be clear until later in the design process, early estimates are that the park will cost more than $400,000. So far, no funding sources have been identified. Chaney told the council her department will focus on grants. It applied for its first grant last week. One of the first steps in the design process will be a series of workshops to let the designer get to know local skaters. Harr already had some ideas and concerns, and he let the council in on a few of them. “Are you guys going to let bikes on it?” Harr asked. “Because they get in the way.” To reach John Saiz at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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