City to repair skate park

The Blaine Skateboard Park will be receiving approximately $5,000 worth of repairs to its concrete pad and aging ramps in the near future.

The city plans to fix holes and gaps in the concrete and resurface the largest ramp in the park, located at 635 4th Street behind the police station, said Blaine community planner Alex Wenger. Both the concrete and the ramp have holes the width of skateboard wheels.

The city also plans to reinstall several rails and smaller features that were removed after vandals cut the bolts securing the obstacles to the concrete, Wenger said.

The skate park, which consists of pre-made ramps sitting on a concrete pad, is considered a “high-maintenance facility.” A similar sized concrete skate park, which would require less maintenance, could cost roughly $300,000 to build, Wenger said.

The city hopes to repair the concrete pad and reinstall rails in May and resurface the large ramp in June.

The city of Blaine used $35,000 in its 2016 budget for improving the skate park last year. It spent $3,734 to purchase several used ramps from the city of Covington and the rest on refurbishing the purchased ramps and skate park obstacles already in place.