Skate Park Facing Hurdles

If skateboarders in Rathdrum want a skate park, they have some opposition to overcome.

Some residents around Stub Meyers Park, one of the possible locations of the park, have told the City Council they don’t want it anywhere near them. Two told the City Council Tuesday night that it’s such a bad idea, they don’t even want it in Rathdrum.

Terry Kiefer, who lives on one of the streets fronting the park, has been gathering signatures from neighbors who are opposed to building a skate park there, he said.

Pete Woods, also a neighbor, said he’s visited the skate park in Coeur d’Alene and didn’t like what he saw.

“It was just a really poor environment,” he said. “There have been vandalism problems, kids use foul language, police respond to incidents at the skate park all too frequently and it was costly to build,” Woods said.

“If you really think that’s what you want for Rathdrum, you need to spend some time and think about this,” Woods said.

After hearing concerns like Kiefer’s and Woods’ at the last Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, students brainstormed ideas to limit any negative impacts the park could have on the surrounding neighborhood, said Tara Carney, a senior at Lakeland High School.

The park could be at a different location, be supervised, open only for specific hours and, since vandalism has been a problem at some parks, could have a wall set aside for kids to paint graffiti, she suggested.

The students, who are very enthusiastic about having a skate park, are planning possible events to help raise money to build the park, Carney said.

“Do consider the concerns that Mr. Keifer and Mr. Woods brought up, but do keep an open mind for what students need,” she told the council.

The council is still exploring the idea of having a skate park in town, said City Councilman Mark Worthen, and hasn’t yet allocated any money.

In other city business, the Rathdrum City Council and the Lakeland School District have signed a joint powers agreement stating that the city owns a baseball field next to John Brown Elementary School.

The ownership of the field had been in question, and until it was resolved, the city could not make any improvements to the field.

For years, people thought the school district owned it, but an old deed showed that the John Brown family had actually given it to the city as long as it was used for youth sports. The school district will have use of it during school hours.

Some of the improvements the city has discussed are installing a new backstop, building restrooms and possibly reconfiguring one field into two.