After the first concept for a skate park in Hilo was presented, two community groups got together recently to design a more culturally significant park.
In April, several members of the skate community submitted input on the first concept that was created by consultants from Grindline, a skate park design firm, and Bow Engineering.
“After seeing the first concept, there were a majority of people who didn’t really like it too much,” said County Councilmember Sue Lee Loy. “We decided to hold two meetings between skaters, crown lands stakeholders and county officials, where a number of ideas and concepts on how to connect culture with the aesthetics of the park emerged.”
In a letter to Grindline and Bow Engineering, Lee Loy wrote that after the two group discussions, the original concept did not provide community-driven ideas, concepts or amenities for the area.
The design also did not provide a sense of place, a historical connection to Hilo, or any context of Hilo’s past, present and future, according to Lee Loy.
The current iteration, created by skaters and stakeholders, still includes comfort stations, tables for picnics, a playground and the roller derby rink. However, the skate park has changed a bit with less parking, a new design for the pump track, and a bowl that is designed in the shape of a kalo plant.
“It’s nice that we’ve been able to meet with the group representing the crown lands and keep the dialogue going,” said Dan Madsen, owner of Oasis Skateshop. “I think it’s important to keep talking and compromising about what we want to see out of the park.”
The kalo plant is currently designed to be the dominant feature of the park, but will not compromise the functionality of the skatepark, or take away any obstacles, according to Madsen.
“Although the design doesn’t follow exactly what the consultants created, the community is designing for the wants of future users of the park while implementing culturally significant parts,” Lee Loy said. “I look forward to administration building concepts that truly came from several parts of the community.”
While Lee Loy is excited about the collaborative concept for the park, she is still concerned with the lack of funding in the county’s budget.
“I haven’t seen funding in the budget and plan to reach out to the Parks and Finance departments, just to see if we can stay on track to make this skate park happen by the end of this administration,” Lee Loy said. “I need to know where the resources are so we can answer the question: Will the community have to raise funds or will the county be able to build it?”
Current funds have been able to cover the environmental assessment of the area and conceptual designs from Bow and Grindline. Once the design is finalized, county Parks and Recreation will assess the amount of money the community will need to raise.
“At this point, we’re doing the environmental assessment and finalizing the design, so we have something to take to donors for potential fundraising,” said Michelle Hiraishi, deputy director of Parks and Recreation. “We’re just not sure how much the community will need to fundraise at this point.”
Once Bow Engineering and Grindline submit the new design to the county, Parks and Recreation will reach out to the Hilo Skate Coalition for any extra input.
“Crown lands stakeholders and skaters have both contributed ideas to the park to make it more dynamic and more localized,” Hiraishi said. “We still have a ways to go, but the fact we have a solid design that has completely stemmed from the community is very exciting to us.”
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com