Despite the downpour, dozens of community members met at Parkway Sports & Health Science Academy on Thursday, March 6 to discuss a renovation to the La Mesita Skatepark.
Three potential design options made by New Line Skateparks were presented based on feedback at the first visioning workshop in October 2024. The community also has an opportunity to take a encuesta about the project until it closes on March 20.
After the survey closes, a feasibility study will be completed with compiled input and possible costs. How thorough a renovation can be done and what features might be added to the skate park remain to be seen as no funding has been secured.
“This is where we’re taking out what we want it to look like before the next step, which is going to be fundraising it and coming all back together to figure out how to make this thing happen quick,” said Parker Ross, chair of the La Mesa Community Services Commission.
La Mesita Skatepark, colloquially called Dallas because of its turnoff from Dallas Street, is part of the 12.85-acre La Mesita Park and adjacent to the Junior Seau Sports Complex. It sits next to the park’s tennis and pickleball courts and the John A. Davis Family YMCA. La Mesa’s only skatepark has 3,500 square feet of features and a 9,000 square feet flat plaza that currently has cracked and crumbling concrete. La Mesita Skatepark does not have any lighting so is only open from dawn til dusk (something almost universally people want to change). Its rules preclude any wheels other than skateboards or inline skates.
A local rollerskater, Polly, attended the meeting partially to advocate for the renovation to make the park ‘all-wheel’ accessible, meaning BMX bikes, rollerskates, WCMX wheelchairs, scooters and all human-powered wheels could use it safely. She visited the skatepark twice and found it too dangerous. Now, she leaves La Mesa to head to Park de la Cruz Skate Park in City Heights which has different lanes for less advanced skaters.
Some of the skateboarders at the workshop advocated for La Mesita Skatepark to keep some of its idiosyncratic pocket turn and simple aesthetic to preserve its hesh culture, meaning its appeal to a segment of hardcore skaters who enjoy high-risk, aggressive skating. Even this group largely wanted the center plaza redone to be smooth, the current step-ups removed, and new features over five feet in size.
“I totally understand that these transitions aren’t super perfect in today’s standards, but for some parts, people like it. So what we’re kind of hearing from some people in here is like, ‘Hey, don’t focus on that. Focus on adding in the other stuff,’” summarized New Line Skatepark’s design director Kanten Russell, who led the discussion.
An additional 3,250 square feet of grass – the size of some small skateparks – is currently included in the loop path around the skatepark. The future of that underutilized grassy area was part of the discussion at the workshop, with young skaters excited about its potential as a spot for an elevated bowl.
More budget-cautious individuals advocated for spectator benches and shade trees to be added to the grassy area, with the possibility of additional features lessening the size of the empty field so at least it gets more use.
Although firm numbers behind the possible designs were not provided, Russell estimated Design 2, which included the elevated bowl, no grass, and the most amenities, would cost upwards of $2 million based on his experience developing hundreds of skateparks across North America. Design 2 had the most support from the audience, with 21 votes for the city to develop it compared to five and seven votes respectively for Design 1 and 3 which kept the grass area.
Each of the designs has the option to be developed in phases so improvements could be made as funds become available rather than waiting a decade for the entire project to be funded. Russell focused on improving the flow of the skatepark so certain elements would not spit skaters out into a fence or cause crossflow collisions. The exact features would not be known until the construction phase. Instead, the workshop gave Russell’s team insight into the general direction the community wants the skate park to take ahead of the feasibility study.
Updates on the concept design process can be found at cityoflamesa.us/1232/La-Mesa-Skate-Park.
For more information, call La Mesa Community Services at (619) 667-1300 or email [email protected].
Top photo: Participants at the design concept workshop participated on ‘dotmocracy,’ by placing sticker dots on the design they liked the most. (Photo by Drew Sitton)
