Skate park

questions roll on
By Scott Nicholson

The county’s skate park is rolling back onto the Watauga County Board of Commissioners’ Monday agenda.

The commissioners are scheduled to review the use of the skate park after temporarily lifting restrictions on park hours.

In August, the commissioners adopted several regulations for the park, hiring a security firm to monitor the park’s use, limiting park hours, and requiring users to sign a waiver form.

Several weeks later, after hearing complaints at a meeting packed with park supporters, the commissioners agreed to expand the park hours for 30 days and give skaters a chance to show they would follow the posted safety rules.

Buzz Berry, one of the organizers of the Appalachian Skatepark Council, said the park had seen little activity since the changes occurred.

“We’ve done the exact same thing we’ve done prior to this,” Berry said.

Berry said the park hasn’t been used much during the unregulated hours, though a number of Appalachian State University students had frequented the park during weekdays.

“I’ve been over there every day since the new rules have been implemented,” Berry said.

“It hasn’t been used much, but I was out there one day when three sons and their fathers were out in helmets and full pads. It was a great sight to see.”

Berry said he would attend the commissioners’ meeting and be available for comments and questions. Berry said there were several suggestions the skatepark council wanted to introduce and explore.

“We still want the park open from 10 a.m. to dusk every day, without question,” Berry said.

“We still want kids to have water or liquids in the park in a designated area, the same way tennis players have hydration next to the equipment.”

The Appalachian Skate Park Council also prefers an attendant to a security guard, which Berry said would ensure the safety of the facility and participants.

He said an attendant would be able to distribute equipment and serve as a mentor, rather than a security guard that serves as an enforcement agent.

“We would be open to the opportunity to operate it ourselves, but we’d have to be given the authority,” Berry said.

“The council has never been given the authority to ask anybody to leave if they’re not wearing a helmet. Yet the Watauga County Sheriff’s (Office) did have the authority to issue citations, but that didn’t really come to fruition.”

The security guard has been maintaining regular park hours from 3 p.m. until dusk on school days.

The guard was hired by the county to enforce park rules, partly due to liability concerns. The guard also ensures park users sign waiver forms designed to release the county from liability.

Berry said average daily usage of the park had dropped “from about 100 a day to eight or nine.”

He said, “I see them out in parking lots now, rolling around where they don’t want them to be. This is not a rebellion at all. They just don’t want to use the knee and elbow pads.”

Berry said extreme-sport magazines depicted competitors not wearing helmets or pads, though Berry said the council supported the use of helmets and pads, although he said knee and elbow pads could be restrictive for some maneuvers.

“I completely understand the North Carolina General Statute,” Berry said, which means the county needs to enforce the rules to be released from liability.

“We are 100 percent for safety,” Berry said. “That’s why we started the skateboard park. The park is safer with a skater wearing helmet and no knee pads instead of a skater with no helmet or pads on the street in front of a business or on the ASU campus. Because that’s where they are now.”

Berry said the Appalachian Skatepark Council was looking forward to working with the commissioners and the county’s Parks and Recreation board to resolve any concerns. “We’re just trying to do something good for the kids,” Berry said.

The commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Monday morning in the Watauga County Administrative Building.