There will be a new skate park at Donnelly Park in upcoming months if the Turlock City Council approves an agreement with a Santa Cruz based consulting firm for design and construction elements Tuesday night.
Turlock’s current skate park is located on Starr Avenue, but the land it sits on is in the process of being sold to the Turlock Irrigation District, another item on Tuesday’s agenda for the City Council.
Construction on the park won’t begin until August since the City of Turlock used state bond funds to build the skate park and as part of that funding agreement had to wait 10 years before making any significant changes. The expiration date on the agreement is Aug. 15, 2015.
According to Parks, Recreation, and Public Facilities Superintendent Erik Schulze, the new firm will work expeditiously to mitigate the time that the park will be closed while the new one is built. The exact size of the skate park has not yet been determined, but it will be located in the southwest interior of the Donnelly Park in the meadow next to the old playground.
The community will have the opportunity to vocalize their vision for the new park as community meetings will be held by the firm, Wormhoudt, Inc.
“This company was chosen since it was the most qualified of the proposals. They are very experienced in doing skate parks,” said Director of Development and City Engineer Mike Pitcock. “We’ve asked a community meeting be included in their proposal so that we can take community input on design elements and features for the skate park.”
Schulze said other than the constraints of the project’s dollar figure, the firm is “going in with a blank slate” as far as what the new park will look like. The City does have a vision of including a path to the skate park.
“It will extend the square footage and also allow us to use some of the elements that we have that can be transferred from the current park,” said Schulze.
The Turlock City Council will vote on whether to approve the agreement with Wormhoudt, Inc for design services on Tuesday.
The Turlock City Council meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at the Yosemite Room of City Hall, located at 156 S. Broadway.
