Construction has recently begun on a new skate park behind the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

In January and in the fall, Spohn Ranch Skateparks hosted design workshops at the GCCC, open to anyone willing to contribute ideas for the park. A large assortment of skaters and others excitedly showed up to express their ideas and wants for the new park. The workshop included a vote on skate features and park designs. These two eventful nights produced a lot of input, which will presumably be implemented in the final design.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” said Damon Archuleta, owner of the skate shop Initiate Skateboarding. “It looks really fun. The bowl they showed off looks cool, and brand new parks are always fun to skate.”

The skater community has criticized the city for its relatively miniscule amount of fun and engaging skate areas for years. With limited options available, skaters and others who frequent the parks are bound to become bored. There is the Martha F. Ramirez Park on Camino Carlos Rey, just off of Cerrillos Road, and the De Vargas Park, which backs onto West Alameda, near the Plaza.

“De Vargas’s design feels a little bit small and the banks at the bottom feel out of place,” said Archuleta about the park that was redesigned in 2013. “Other than that though, it really is a fun park with a nice location close to downtown.”

To remedy the lack of compelling skate parks, the City Council supplied approximately $515,000 in 2015 for a new skate park to be constructed behind the GCCC.

Skaters have high hopes for the park, whose design looks promising.

“I’m stoked for some of the features they showed off in the preliminary design,” said Khalil Amore, a local skater. “It looks super fun — I’m optimistic about it.”