Upward Intuition has hit the brakes on a plan to build its first “Skate Spot” at Cordova Square, a park in East Hill along North 12th Avenue that’s across from the old Sacred Heart Hospital.
After two community meetings on the skate spot proposal that resulted in some outcry from neighbors, Upward Intuition founder Jon Shell sent a letter to Pensacola’s Parks and Recreation Board saying that “Cordova Square may not be part of our path forward, but our vision remains the same.”
The not-for-profit organization that spearheaded the development of the popular Blake Doyle Skatepark worked with an architect to design several different options for the much smaller, pilot “Safe Spot Skate Spot.”
The designs vary in layout, but each envisions an 8,000 square foot area that includes a skate plaza, planted berm buffer, pop up vendor space, pollinator garden, and food truck stop that can be utilized by skateboarders, roller skaters, roller bladers and biking for children and people who live nearby.
Upward Intuition said they would lease the park property from the city and fund design, construction and maintenance of the first skate spot with a $250,000 grant and sign a stewardship agreement with the city.
While many neighbors near Cordova Square said they support the concept, most like the 2.5-acre park of mostly open space like it is, and they pushed for the idea to take root somewhere else.
Many residents expressed confusion about how a public/private partnership utilizing city real estate would work and felt the entire project caught them off guard.
“I want to commend you for your work on Blake Doyle,” Cordova Square neighbor John Mathis said to representatives of Upward Intuition at the Park and Recreation Board meeting. “I thank you for reconsidering and taking Cordova Square off the table. That’s not the location (for the skate spot), and I’m glad to help you with another park for it.”
Do people want more places to skate?
Although the proposal is no longer moving forward, Shell and other volunteers with Upward Intuition gave an informal presentation about it to Pensacola’s Park and Recreation Board on Aug. 19 for the first time since approaching city staff about building a skate spot in East Hill a year and a half ago.
“This is an approach to bringing skating and the spirit of inclusivity to kids within their neighborhoods while improving the public realm,” Allen Smith with Upward Intuition said. “Places for skating are often separate, not a part of the public realm and there are few places where they can skate legally.”
Shell said even though they don’t have their sights set on another park to build the pilot skate spot, they still want to collaborate with the city and play a role in shaping Pensacola parks and the features included in them.
The group’s overall goal is to fund, build and maintain smaller skate spots in parks across the city and include them as an amenity in line with other common park features like basketball courts, sports fields and playgrounds.
Park and Recreation Board members said they appreciated the group’s “passion” for their philosophy and vision, but some believe the concept will be a tough sell not just in East Hill but other neighborhoods as well, because skateboarding does not necessarily have broad appeal.
“People are already calling police all the time on kids who are just playing basketball at 12th Avenue park. You can expect it every five minutes with kids with skateboards,” board member Michael Blankenship said of H.K. Matthews Park in East Hill, another location Upward Intuition had been considering.
Blankenship and board member Kirwan Price encouraged Upward Intution not to give up on the idea and both suggested the group trying installing a skateboarding amenity like a half-pipe ramp at another park and see how the public and neighbors respond.
“Sadly, for some people a barren piece of land that just sits moderately used is better than having a park that a bunch of kids could come skate at, and that’s what we have to think about,” Price said.
Members of the community spoke to the board. Some supported the concept but not the proposed location at Cordova Square and they thanked Upward Intuition for deciding not to pursue it.
Making public/private partnerships work with park projects
Board member Daniel Brask suggested a motion to recognize the importance of public-private partnerships when funding for parks maintenance and amenities is a struggle.
He said private monies could help with tight budgets if private partners understood they needed to work with city staff on their plans.
“When we have the opportunity to receive outside finances and resources, we have to entertain those,” Brask said.
However, board chair Renee Borden wanted to schedule that discussion for another meeting saying the issue of public/private partnerships is complicated. She said the city has made similar arrangements, but they don’t all work out.
“We can put that as an agenda item to have that specific conversation,” Borden said. “I think when you start talking about private/public partnerships that’s a whole different avenue. I can think of the Hawkshaw Missing Children’s Memorial is one that is not maintained at all. We have had some stewardship agreements that have gone by the wayside and have not ended up well, but I like the idea.”
Borden also supported Upward Intuition’s philosophy of expanding smaller skate spots, and suggested they work more closely with the city staff and Parks and Recreation to discuss possible future locations, funding and budgets, as well as data on if there is a desire for a skate spot in certain neighborhoods.
Shell said he believes there is a demand for smaller skate parks in the city, and he wants to continue working with the city to find a path forward.
“If it’s not going to work that’s OK,” Shell said. “We’ve just got to figure something different out. “
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Upward Intuition pulls pilot ‘Skate Spot’ project planned for East Hill. What happens now
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
