Neighbors shape Crown Hill's newest skatedot

The final piece of the new Crown Hill Park is ready to be completed after a handful of parents, activists and skateboarders met with Seattle Parks and Recreation and Pillar Design Studios Aug. 2 to discuss the park's skateboarding area.

Kim Baldwin, project manager for Parks, said the public's reaction to a skatedot, a 1,500-square-foot skateboarding area, was overwhelmingly positive at previous meetings.

Out of a total budget of $1.2 million for Crown Hill Park, located on the north side of Holman Road Northwest between 13th Avenue Northwest and 14th Avenue Northwest, $55,000 has been designated for the skatedot, which will be located in the southeast section of the park.

Brad Siedlecki of Pillar Design Studios was on hand to facilitate the discussion about the shape and scope of the skatedot. He said, due to space and budget constraints, it would be best to keep the design simple and make sure it does one thing great instead of trying to fit in a bunch of poorly funded elements.

"I'd like to make a big bang with 1,500 square feet," Siedlecki said. "To me, less is more, and I've been doing this for 12 years."

Kate Martin, a cofounder of Parents for Skateparks, said she has concerns about safety and wants to see the design kept above ground to minimize hiding places. Other attendees said above-ground elements present just as much opportunity for hiding.

Neighborhood resident Todd Werny said he wants the skatedot to include elements for older skaters. Drawing older skaters to the site will increase adult supervision at the skatedot, he said.

Scott Shinn, director of Parents for Skateparks, said he wants to make sure the design is suitable for beginners and young skaters.

One meeting attendee suggested a small kidney-shaped bowl for the skatedot.

In the end, the discussion boiled down to weighing a pair of mini-ramps against a sunken bowl.

Siedlecki suggested a kidney bowl with the elbow and the opposite wall cut out. One end of the bowl would be 5-feet deep and the other would be 3-feet deep. The design, which he said has never been tried, would allow skaters to cut through the bowl as well as skate figure-eights inside it.

Siedlecki will take the neighborhood's comments into consideration while designing the final skatedot. He will also work with Parks to successfully integrate the design into the park's landscaping.

In order to keep the community involved throughout the design of the skatedot, Pillar has created a website to allow neighbors and designers to share ideas.

To access the community website, visit www.pillardesignstudios.com, click on the Services tab at the top of the page and enter "crownhill" as the login and "skatedot" as the password.

The Aug. 2 skatedot meeting represented the fourth and final public meeting for Crown Hill Park. Parks will now be moving forward, accepting bids early next year, starting construction in the spring and opening next fall, Baldwin said.