PROVO -- Veteran skateboarder Sean Blair says it was remarkably considerate of Provo to build Utah Valley's first municipal skating court.
"It's awesome," Blair said of the gesture. "I give them a ton of credit. They actually took the energy to do it and thought about skateboarders."The 6,000-square-foot skate court, officially named the Fort Utah Skateboard Park, opens Thursday. Some skateboarders and freestyle bicyclists, however, for months have been illegally hopping a fence and testing the cemented slopes at 200 N. Geneva Road.
Roger Thomas, Provo's director of parks and recreation, said the unfinished site has attracted so many violators that police have resorted to issuing $75 tickets to each trespasser.
"Three different times we've had to redo the caulking and the grouting," Thomas said. "There wasn't one day I went there when there wasn't at least one person skating in there. . . And I don't know that the (violators) have gotten the message; police have been issuing a lot of (tickets) lately."
That bicyclists have been sampling the $45,000 skate court is of particular concern to Thomas because he said the facility was not designed for them.
Instead, the court is exclusively intended for beginner and intermediate skateboarders and in-line skaters.
A dearth of area skateboarding parks has long forced practitioners of the sport to navigate through private properties such as Brigham Young University and church parking lots in search of thrills. That scarcity assisted the city's move- ment toward a skate park.
"That's really a big part of what brought this to the forefront," Thomas said.
"There really was no place for skaters to go where they could skate without somebody yelling at them, or shouting at them. So that got the ball rolling."
Jason Rail, a skateboarding son of Provo City Councilman Dave Rail, first proposed the idea about two years ago as part of an Eagle Scout project. Construction of the skate park began last October.
Despite the addition of the skate park, Provo hasn't always appeared skateboarder-friendly. Earlier this year, the Provo City Council contemplated passing an ordinance to ban all roller skating activities in public areas.
Perhaps influenced by a sizable number of skaters who denounced the proposal, the council eventually passed a less restrictive law that allows private property owners to ban roller skating on their own property.
Blair and Kevin Wattles, his 23-year-old skateboarding comrade, both said they would prefer practicing elevated tricks at a skate court rather than on private properties. They are regulars at Joe's Board Shop in Orem, a private and well-regarded skate park.
But skating at a private club costs money, a reality that causes Blair and Wattles to often seek out less costly terrain to satisfy their gravity-defying cravings.
The verdict on Fort Utah Skateboard Park, where usage will be free of charge, is still out. Blair and Wattles say they have tested the new site and offered a few criticisms.
"We just thought they made some mistakes on their measurements," Wattles said.
"We debate coming to (private) places or the (skate) park and we shouldn't have to. We should want to go to the park. In all honesty, if that place was awesome, we'd go there every day and not do this."
Thomas said Fort Utah's skate court was designed with consultation from skateboarders, parents and police.
"They basically directed the architects on what they wanted," Thomas said.
Skate parks are apparently a fast growing trend for municipalities. Orem is in the process of building a skate park that will be much larger than the one at Fort Utah Park. Skate parks in Farmington, Ogden, Cedar City and Tooele are all either under construction or being planned, Thomas said.
"There's not many, but (other places) were getting the same kinds of pressure that we were getting to build a skate park," Thomas said.
Provo's new, smallish skate court won't persuade anyone to think of this city as a mecca for skateboarding. But Thomas said more skate parks in Provo could follow if demand is high.