By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
ARLINGTON — After months of consideration, the Arlington City Council has chosen a site near the Boys and Girls Club for a skateboard park.
In doing so, the council opted not to follow the recommendation of its Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission, an advisory board that favored a site at Jensen Park near Kent Prairie Elementary School.
Monday night’s vote was 6-0, with council member Ryan Larsen, who lives in the Jensen Park neighborhood, abstaining.
Skateboard enthusiasts had urged the council to choose Jensen Park; neighbors in that area fought the proposal.
"I’m proud of your decision tonight," Harold Wetmore, a Jensen Park neighborhood resident, told the council.
Others were disappointed, some were angry.
"I’m very disappointed personally and as a member of the parks commission," said Virginia Hatch.
Hatch said she worries about the safety of children trying to reach the Boys and Girls Club site, which is in an industrial area owned by the city but leased by the club. She also questions whether it will be visible enough.
Chris Raezer, a skateboarder with two boys, said the Jensen Park site "is like a fishbowl" where children would always feel as though they were being observed.
Council member Karl Fitterer said he was trying to look out for the entire city, reminding people that Arlington stretches from the old part of town to Smokey Point.
"I felt all along that the area down here (Boys and Girls Club) (better) suits it," Fitterer said.
Monday’s decision doesn’t mean a skateboard park will appear anytime soon. The city council has appropriated $120,000 for design and construction. Total construction cost could range from $100,000 to $300,000 depending on the size, design and the elements included in the skateboard park.
"Determining the location is very important," said Kari Lewis, the city’s director of parks and recreation. "It’s very difficult to move forward to talk about design until we know the location."
The Skateboard Park Association, a citizens group supporting the construction of a skateboard park, will try to raise the rest.
Just where the park will be placed on the Boys and Girls Club campus remains to be seen.
"We are not opposed to it," said Bill Tsoukalas, executive director for the Boys and Girls Club of Snohomish County.
However, Tsoukalas said, there were some understandings when the club originally agreed to locate on the site that any projects wouldn’t affect the ability to expand the building or infringe on neighboring play fields.
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