COUNCIL APPROVES CONSTRUCTION OF FORKS SKATEPARK

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

Skateboarders, drag and motorcycle racers are on the Forks City Council’s fast track.
The council unanimously approved additional funding for the construction of the first phase of the Forks Skatepark on Friday afternoon at a special council meeting.

Only one bid was received to construct a concrete skateboarding bowl at an eighty-foot by sixty-foot section of Tillicum Park. Nationally-known skatepark construction company Grindline of Seattle made the successful bid of $71,870.
Construction is expected to begin this month. Grindline is a major skateboard park builder and April is the only month with a break in its 2008 schedule. The Forks Skatepark will also be listed on the firm’s Web site at www.grindline.com that lists Grindline skateboarding parks from coast to coast.

About three quarters of the cost of construction is already in place, with the council providing the additional funds needed while fundraising goes to cap off the project.

Councilwoman Pat Mansfield led the council in expressing support for the project.
Following the vote Mayor Nedra Reed said, “Let’s build a skatepark.”

City of Forks Public Works Director Dave Zellar told the council that a number of West End contractors looked at the job, which requires an expertise in the intricacies of working concrete into shapes optimum for skateboarding.
He said the final bid was higher than expected, but he worked out a funding plan with the help of City of Forks

Clerk-Treasurer Dan Leinan and Attorney/Planner Rod Fleck.

The final cost may be lowered through using volunteer labor where possible in construction and possible breaks in concrete costs from concrete firms.

Funds to pay back the city are already being sought, with fundraisers run by skateboarders and other sources. Larry Scroggins of the Forks Elks Lodge said Saturday that his organization is seeking a grant to help fund the skatepark through a national Elks program.

On Saturday night films of skateboarding parks constructed by Grindline were shown at the new Forks Community Center. Brochures created by the Forks Session Association were handed out that describe the skatepark and seek donations of material, cash, food and labor. The funds would also help pay for liability insurance for the skatepark.

Motorsports park
The Port of Port Angeles, working in consultation with the City of Forks, is accepting proposals from consultants for a study on the creation of a motorsports park for Forks.

The deadline for turning in a proposal is Friday.

Phil Arbeiter, President of the West End Thunder drag racing association, said the ideal motorsports park for Forks would have a drag strip capable of staging quarter-mile drag races, a motorcycle track in the same compound, a course for go-kart racing and car drifting races, plus mud bogs for truck races.

“We’d like to make it a motorpark that caters to year-round racing” and allow for a large variety of different types of particpants, Arbeiter said.

Consultants would start their study in early 2009, with about six months to complete their work, Fleck said. The consultant chosen would look at the cost and practicality of both an eighth-mile track and a quarter-mile track.

Currently the summertime West End Thunder races are held at the City of Forks-owned Forks Municipal Airport. In an agreement brokered in 2007 by the City of Forks, the Federal Aviation Administration granted permission to use the airport runway for races only through 2011. After that date a new location must be found.

The consultant chosen will consider the size of a parcel needed in relation to its cost, easy access to Highway 101 and proximity to downtown Forks, what infrastructure would be needed including utilities, paving, timing buildings, seating, storage and other fixtures.

A critical section of the study will be a cost analysis that would show if a motorsports park would pay for itself, or if the facility would need additional funding from grants and other sources.

The West End Thunder races attract drivers and spectators from across the West End, plus Port Angeles and Sequim, the I-5 corridor, Bellingham and other cities in Washington, as well as from Oregon and other states.
Thousands of spectators attend the races. Forks High School athletic programs and other community organizations benefit from sizable concession sales.

The West End Thunder race schedule for summer 2008 lists weekend races on June 14-15, July 5-6 following the Old Fashioned Forks Fourth of July event on Friday, July 4, August 16-17 and Sept. 13-14.