The future of Turlock’s popular skate park, located adjacent to the current Turlock Police Department, is in question given the construction of the new Public Safety Facility several blocks away.

Turlock Parks, Recreation, and Community commissioners posed the question a month ago: without the close police presence, would the park – home to some acts of crime throughout the years – continue?

But commissioners learned Tuesday that the skate park will remain open, even following the police department’s pending move, according to Turlock Parks, Recreation and Facilities Manager Allison Van Guilder.

“The skate park will continue to operate as it does, and we're not anticipating any changes to that,” Van Guilder said.

Currently, the police rely both on their physical proximity to the park and round-the-clock video monitoring to police the skate park. The video monitoring will continue following the move, Van Guilder said, and the police department will continue to regularly patrol the facility. Should there be any problems at the park, the police will offer additional patrols.

One option voiced by commissioners should problems occur – fencing the park to prevent nighttime usage – is not possible, city staff said. The terms of a $5,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, which aided in the park’s construction, require the park not be fenced.

But according to Van Guilder, the police department does not expect a need for further security measures.

“In speaking with the police department, they do not anticipate any significant impacts to the skate park with their relocation,” Van Guilder said.

Commission begins to consider fundraising for new dog park

With a new dog park at Turlock’s Centennial Park approved by the Turlock City Council, the Parks, Recreation, and Community Commission has begun planning to fundraise the approximately $44,000 needed to construct the facility.

An ad hoc committee, consisting of Parks, Recreation and Community Commission Chair Barney Gordon, and Commissioners Steven Nascimento and Bella Daniel will be tasked with generating the funding needed to begin work on Turlock’s second dog park.

“We recognize that no work will be done on the dog park until we have all of the funding secured,” Nascimento said.

Currently, the group is considering naming amenities after donors, offering an area where pet owners can purchase plaques in honor of their lost pets, and recognizing donors on a custom message board. Additional amenities, not budgeted for in the design, could also be donated.

The group does not have a deadline to raise the required funding, but expects fundraising to go more swiftly than the drawn-out fundraising effort for the current dog park at Sunnyview Park.

“When the money’s raised, the money’s raised,” Gordon said.

To contact Alex Cantatore, e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.