Residents want a new skatepark: Parks & Rec says that's a long-term investment
After a Facebook post about Oxford's skatepark garnered numerous responses, Parks and Recreation made some repairs. City staff say a full revamp of the park is tentatively scheduled for 2027, but it will be a costly investment.
Some Oxford residents are calling for a revamp of the skatepark at the TRI Community Center, citing concerns that it’s unsafe in its current condition.
Eric Rigney, 18, posted in a private Facebook group in late July asking when the city might invest in major repairs for the park. His post eventually garnered more than 150 comments from other residents with similar complaints.
Rigney has been skateboarding for about a decade, and he moved to Oxford last October. In that time, he told the Oxford Free Press that he’s only gone to the skatepark a few times.
“I’ve tried a few times, can’t do much more than just push the board around,” Rigney said. “[The] ramps are too slick and the concrete is cracked all over.”
Instead, Rigney skates around Oxford and Miami University’s campus. The city has signs on High Street prohibiting skateboards, roller blades and bikes on the sidewalks, though, and Rigney said the university doesn’t like people using skateboards on campus, either. He made his post on Facebook after being told to leave university property under threat of having the police called.
“I usually get dirty looks, or rude comments while I’m out skating in town,” Rigney said. “I’ve had the police tell me to leave places, business owners come outside to tell me to leave, which is understandable. That doesn’t bother me; what bothers me is the fact I don’t have anywhere else really to skate.”
Casey Wooddell, director of Oxford’s Parks and Recreation, said the department hasn’t received any complaints from residents about injuries or unsafe conditions at the skatepark. Since the issue gained traction on social media last week, he said they’ve filled in some of the largest cracks in the pavement at the skatepark last week. While his team does maintenance work multiple times a year, the skatepark is from 2001, and Wooddell said just keeping up with repairs isn’t enough to solve the park’s issues.
“The only real fix is a new skatepark,” Wooddell said. “We can band-aid and band-aid and band-aid, but it won’t fix the underlying problem.”
A complete overhaul of the park is currently on the horizon for 2027. Wooddell said that’s when he put it down in the city’s capital improvement plan (CIP), a document that lays out the next five years of spending over $5,000 for each city department. While the CIP informs the budget for the next fiscal year, Wooddell said things beyond that are subject to change based on community feedback or major expenses in other departments.
According to the CIP, the park could cost $301,000, though Wooddell said the city has not sent out a request for proposals and any costs are rough estimates. At the time it was constructed in 2001, the skatepark cost roughly $65,000, or $115,000 in today’s money.
The original park was constructed from lumber and pavement surface which both break down over time, Wooddell said. With the combined effects of inflation, rising material and labor costs and the desire for higher quality construction, that drives the cost up. The next most expensive item on the horizon for the parks and recreation department is construction of a dog park this year, which the CIP estimated the cost at $90,000 for. Expenses in other departments could reduce the likelihood of a skatepark renovation, Wooddell said.
“We’re battling new playgrounds, we’re battline water softening, we’re battling fire department equipment and police equipment and economic development plans,” Wooddell said. “All of that has to be balanced by city council within their priorities.”
When making decisions within Parks and Recreation specifically, Wooddell said he looks at how many people might use a facility, whether it’s multigenerational, how long it could last and more. Wooddell says he sees the skatepark being used every day, especially when Miami University students are in town.
Until the skatepark can be updated, which Wooddell said remains in his plans for 2027, he encouraged residents to reach out if they have any safety concerns at the park.
