North Texas Daily

Chad Robertson | Staff Writer
@chadr0b

For the past 10 months, Denton skateboarders have been advocating for a new and improved skate park.

Denton Skate Supply started an online and in-store petition stressing the need for a new skate park in November 2014. Both petitions were presented at a Denton City Council meeting on Sept. 2 of this year.

An empty Denton Skate Works on a Friday evening. Kate Landers | Intern Photographer

Together, the petitions had an estimated 1,000 signatures.

UNT alumnus and Denton Skate Supply worker Sam O’Donnell addressed the council with a list of reasons why the community could use a new park.

“One problem is the current skate park’s layout doesn’t really make any sense with the way the ramps are set up,” O’Donnell said. “There isn’t any flow. As soon as you do an obstacle, there’s usually something in the way that causes a dead end and stops you from following through to the other obstacles.”

Aside from the annoying layout, UNT skaters said the current location is inconvenient. The current park, almost a 15-minute drive from campus, is more than an hour and a half away on foot.

Screen shot of Google Maps showing the driving distance from UNT to the current skate park

Screen shot of Google Maps showing the walking distance from UNT to the current skate park

The petition included a plan for a park that would be built closer to Denton’s hub.

“The current location of the park is kind of out of the way and far from the center of Denton,” O’Donnell said. “It’s even farther and harder to get to when you don’t have a car, so our hopes would be to have the new park built closer to the core of town.”

The present skate park is made up of metal and wood pre-fabricated obstacles, which some skaters find out-of-date and not as fluid as concrete parks. The petition is calling for the construction of a new, concrete in-ground structure.

“They need to redo this whole park,” undeclared sophomore Justin Phongsaid. “Concrete parks just have smoother ramps, and they help me out a lot more when I’m trying to improve my skills.”

Phong said some days he would rather drive 40 minutes to skate at the concrete parks in McKinney, Roanoke and Arlington.

Entrepreneurship senior Wesley Wiggins said he believes a new park with easier access would even help keep skaters out of trouble.

“I think a new park would help raise spirits and morale in the community and will help skaters avoid skating in places they could get ticketed by police, like on campus or sidewalks around town.” Wiggins said.

O’Donnell believes a new park would bring skaters from other towns outside Denton to the community, which would be good for local businesses. He emphasizes advocating for a new skate park is not solely just for Denton Skate Supply, but also for the skating and BMX communities as a whole.

Denton Mayor Chris Watts said during the Sept. 2 council meeting that he “appreciated the initiative” taken by the skateboarding community.

Only time will tell if the work put in by local skaters will result in a new skate park they can start to actively use.

Featured Image: UNT alumnus Sam O’Donnell, who works at Denton Skate Supply, started a petition for a new skate park within Denton city limits. Meagan Sullivan | Senior Staff Photographer