Skate-park plan takes a tumble

Amid dog-owner protests, City Council refuses to buy bridge providing access to the proposed site, dashing the hopes of area skaters.After refusing to help the YMCA develop a skateboard park adjacent to the dog playground in Laguna Canyon, city officials threw a bone to the skate park's backers on Tuesday.

The council declined to purchase a bridge from Verizon that would have allowed access at the northern end of the Bark Park for skateboarders. But a council subcommittee was created to explore the possibility of smaller skateboard areas in local parks.

The decision on the bridge doomed YMCA plans to build a skateboard facility.

"We envisioned a safe place for kids there," said Larry Nokes, spokesman for the YMCA. "But it has become a turf war with the dog park in which we were unwilling participants."

Opponents of a skateboard facility at the dog park packed the City Council chambers for the hearing and submitted petitions, gathering more than 1,250 signatures.

"You were going to get an earful, but now you won't," Mallory McCamat said.

On the other side, young skateboarder Caity Elizabeth was not happy with the council's decision.

"This is really serious for me," she said. "I skate at Encinitas [a YMCA facility], but that is not what I really want. It's time the city did something for us."

Laguna Beach resident Marshall Ininns' son was nine when they first talked about a facility in Laguna. Now he is 16. "I am so disappointed," Ininns said.

The YMCA approached the city about building, maintaining and supervising a skateboard park about six years ago. City officials proposed putting it in Act V in the canyon -- at that time used only for summer parking but now earmarked for city maintenance services.

When the council reneged on the Act V site, then-mayor Paul Freeman suggested that the YMCA take a look at the Bark Park. YMCA officials felt they had no choice but to go along, and a written agreement was completed.

But protests by dog owners prompted the council to suggest Big Bend as an alternate site, and new plans were drawn.

Big Bend fell by the wayside in 2004 when the city acquired property above it not conducive to the operation of a skate park.