Papa Jack’s Skate Park faces an October deadline to move from the Civic Center property of developer Steve Soboroff. The Boys and Girls Club has been suggested as a potential temporary site.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
Papa Jack’s Skate Park, facing an October deadline to move from the Civic Center property of developer Steve Soboroff, could be moving west. Members of the Skate Park Ad Hoc Committee said at a meeting last week at City Hall the Boys and Girls Club could be used as a temporary site for some of the skate ramps.
Bob Stallings, the city’s Parks and Recreation director, said that while the existing skate park is about 10,000 square feet, the ramps can be reoriented to fit any potential site. The Boys and Girls Club currently has a small skating area, but Stallings said adding additional skate ramps would require the school district’s approval because the club is located on district property. Stallings said city staff would contact the district about the possibility of moving the ramps to the club.
Malibu resident Regan Schaar, a former Planning Commission member whose son is a professional skater, said the Boys and Girls Club site would be beneficial because most of Malibu’s youth live on the west side of town.
Previous plans to use half of the Malibu Bluffs Park parking lot, adjacent to the Michael Landon Community Center, as a temporary home for the skate park appear unlikely. That move was contingent on the city securing approval from the owners of a piece of private property adjacent to the park to use as a parking lot to compensate for the lost parking spaces next to the Landon Center. Developer Robert Gold, who represents the property owners, said at the meeting that a new equity partner was being brought in and that the ownership group could not commit to offering the site for another six weeks.
City Manager Jim Thorsen listed the Boys and Girls Club and Bluffs Park as the most realistic destinations for the park on a temporary basis.
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Skylar Peak floated the idea of using the west end of the Zuma Beach parking lot as a permanent site, with a concrete bowl. Peak noted the area had been used as a staging area for machinery when Broad Beach homeowners installed a rock revetment along the beach in 2010, and suggested the area could be rented or bought from Los Angeles County, which owns the parking lot.
Peak said the property would be perfect because it has nearby restrooms and access to emergency personnel in case of injuries. Additionally, he said it would bring a financial benefit to the county by bringing more cars to the parking lot.
“We should make sure we have the best park in the world,” Peak said.
Schaar seconded the idea, noting that the Venice Beach and Santa Barbara skate parks are located on the beach and are “hugely successful.”
Malibu City Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich suggested contacting the Broad Beach homeowners to find out how much the county charged them to use the parking lot as a staging area for construction equipment when they were installing the revetment.
Thorsen said the idea had merit, but noted that “when you come in and deal with the county, they’re very rigid.”
Thorsen said city staff would write letters to county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and county Beaches and Harbors Director Santos Kreimann to initiate the conversation.
Thorsen added that building and funding a permanent skate park was a long-term project that would require time and a significant fundraising campaign.
Malibu City Councilmember Jefferson Wagner said he had contacted Don Schmitz, who represents the owners of the La Paz site adjacent to the current skate park, about using part of the site temporarily. The city was promised the use of two acres of the site whenever it is developed, but Wagner said he had not heard back from Schmitz about using those acres now, while it is currently undeveloped.
Ulich also proposed approaching real estate mogul Donald Sterling about putting the skate park at the Vital Zuman property, which he bought earlier this year.
Thorsen said city staff would write letters to Schmitz and Sterling about the possibility of using the properties as temporary sites for the skate park.