Avon skate plaza moving forward after chorus of community voices convinces Town Council
Despite concerns about proposed Nottingham Park location, members of Town Council are convinced by passionate speeches
Town of Avon/Courtesy image
Eagle County’s next skate park — or skate plaza, in this case — is looking more likely following the Nov. 14 Avon Town Council meeting. After four years of planning by Avon Skate Coalition members, who received $25,000 in grant funding from the Colorado Health Foundation to plan a skate park for Avon, the topic has stalled repeatedly at Town Council meetings over the question of where the park should be located.
At the Nov. 14 meeting, following impassioned speeches by several Eagle County residents and skaters, the majority of council members gave verbal approval to move forward with placing the skate plaza on the old Town Hall site, in the southeast corner of Harry A. Nottingham Park.
The last time the council discussed the skate plaza, at its June 27 meeting, several council members were opposed to placing the skate park at that location, a theme that continued at the Nov. 14 meeting.
Concerns were also raised about creating redundancy due to the proximity of the Edwards skate park to Avon, safety related to rogue skateboards, and the need to close the skate park during town events in the park. The biggest concern, however, was the location.
Council member Lindsay Hardy said that while she was in support of a skate plaza in Avon, she didn’t see a skate plaza as the “highest and best use” for the Old Town Hall site. “I have a hard time with such a tiny piece of land that has potentially so much value and so much programming value being used for a singular purpose, and I get it, there’s multiple styles of wheels, but a singular purpose in my eye,” Hardy said. “I worry that we build this now, and 10 years from now, we realize that we have a higher and best use, and then we have to tear it down. I worry about — I prefer things to be permanent, and last 100, 200 years.”
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Public support for skate park
More than a dozen members of the public attended the Avon Town Council meeting to show support for the skate plaza on the old Town Hall site.
“Every day, I walk out from where I work, and I look at a big dirt lot (the old Town Hall site). I work all the events, we always fence it off,” said Jason Feins, an Avon resident who lives in Nottingham Park and works for the parks department in Avon. “We have a lot of events, and the kids are always looking to do something that are older — they don’t just want to play at the park — and while their parents are enjoying a concert, they can enjoy the skate park,” he said.
Younger members of the Eagle County community testified to finding friends and a sense of identity at the Edwards skate park, an opportunity they want to see become easily accessible for Avon residents.
“The skate park where I grew up in Edwards was a great place to recreate safely and have fun and meet new people, and it was just super nice, and it’s a good time, and I want Avon to have the same environment and opportunities,” said Champ McNair, a sophomore at Battle Mountain High School.
“I moved here from South Carolina in eighth grade, so five years ago now, and I didn’t really have any friends,” said Liam Glowacki. “It was hard for me to meet people, and I moved to Riverwalk when I moved here, so that skate park in Edwards was super close by, and that was the outlet that gave me a community and helped me meet people.”
As Colorado looks toward building more high-density housing, the need for well-designed outdoor spaces becomes even more pressing.
“In the 22 years that I have lived in this valley, I have watched so much growth, and there are more and more and more people coming here, and those of us that live in high-density housing, we need a space for our kids to go,” said Rachael Stroker, a resident of Miller Ranch. “Because I don’t have a big backyard. Our kids need to be able to collaborate in a safe space.”
Stroker also cited the ease of using public transportation to access the park, especially for young people, as a benefit of the Nottingham Park location.
“To tell you that we need a skate park in Avon would be an understatement,” said Claire Altenau, Avon resident and executive director of Duchess Ride, a nonprofit that provides board sports camps for girls. “We have programming that will utilize this space often and well, and I think that it would be a great opportunity to be a crown jewel (of) Avon, with the view, and also fostering our youth and empowering them through such a great opportunity,” she said.
Amy Lewis, one of four leaders of the Avon Skate Coalition, and a representative of the Education Foundation of Eagle County, the nonprofit fiscal sponsor of the project, emphasized the grassroots origins of the skate plaza.
“We brought in other people, we’ve talked, we talked to the kids, we got petitions, we’ve gathered the community. I’m sorry you haven’t heard the community the way you feel like you may need to hear the community, but listen to us now, and if you need another way to engage the community, don’t shoot down the project, engage the community. Ask them,” Lewis said. “This is a bottom-up solution. It’s not coming from the top. We’re asking you to please consider this recreation space in a million-dollar view, because recreation deserves a million-dollar view.”
Council response
The passionate display in favor of the skate plaza, specifically in Nottingham Park, from so many members of the community had a tangible impact on the opinions of council members.
Council member Ruth Stanley, who was against the location in June, said she reviewed the emails she had received from Avon residents about the plaza and found only one against the location. After hearing so many in favor of the location, she changed her mind.
“You’ve kind of moved me over,” Stanley said.
Council member RJ Andrade, who said in the meeting that he grew up skating, was also convinced by the speeches.
“I also was opposed to it in this location, but my concerns are different. My concerns are, I thought the location was limiting what we could do for a skate park, and I always wanted nothing short of the best possible skate park we can build. So if you guys are convinced that you can put a park in that spot, where the spot is not limiting what you can build, then I’m 100 percent in favor of it,” Andrade said.
Council member Rich Carroll, who was serving as mayor of Avon when the West Avon Preserve trails were voted on by the council, said the skate plaza debate reminded him of discussions over the input of those trails, which were similarly controversial. Years later, he said, people said they were wrong to oppose the trails. The West Avon Preserve trails are “a great way to get out and relieve mental stress and get outdoors. I think this could have the same effect,” Carroll said.
Council member Chico Thuon cited concerns about etiquette in the skate park, the skate park having a “concrete jungle” look, and the maintenance of the skate park. “I’ve had horrific to semi-terrible experiences at the Edwards park with my children there. Not just the mantra of the fellow skaters, but the foul mouths and the lack of respect. So if this were to proceed, I’d like to have a mission vision statement that includes respect, respecting family, respecting our town,” he said.
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Ultimately, however, Thuon was won over by the words of the members of the public who spoke in favor of the skate park. “My instinct and gut says that we need to do this, so let’s do it,” Thuon said.
Avon mayor Amy Phillips, a public transportation advocate, has always been in favor of the Nottingham Park location for the skate park, and doubled down at the meeting. “I want this for the kids that already live in Avon that can get to this park on a free bus,” Phillips said.
Hardy remained the sole council member opposed to putting the skate plaza in the southeast corner of Nottingham Park.
“I can still be convinced, but for now, I think it’s a land use planning mistake. I don’t think it’s a community mistake, and if it did move forward, I would be really happy for the community, and the skating community, but I still think it’s a land use planning mistake,” she said.
Planning updates and funding
The town of Avon and the Avon Skate Coalition have brought in New Line Skateparks, a professional skate park designer, to create a custom design for the Avon skate plaza. Kanten Russell, lead designer for New Line Skateparks, explained he is planning the Avon skate plaza to be an inclusive, accessible social space that enables skaters to be expressive and creative with their skating, while maintaining plenty of space for non-skaters on the edges of the park.
Funding responsibility for the project will be split between the town of Avon and the Education Foundation of Eagle County. Avon has set aside $2.9 million in its Capital Improvement Fund to pay for infrastructure at the park including work to the parking area, restrooms, landscaping, a retaining wall, and water and sewer taps, according to Avon town manager Eric Heil. The Education Foundation of Eagle County will pay for the skate park portion with funding expected to come from the Colorado Health Foundation.
An update on the skate park can be expected at the Avon Town Council’s December or January meeting.
