An ad hoc committee formed to find a new location for the skate park is considering moving the skate ramps to the Malibu Bluffs Park parking lot as a temporary solution.
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, may have found a temporary home. Malibu City Councilmember Jeffer son Wagner told The Malibu Times that the Skate Park Ad Hoc Committee is exploring the possibility of using half of the Malibu Bluffs Park parking lot, adjacent to the Michael Landon Community Center, as a temporary home for the skate park.
The move is 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 represents the property owners.
Wagner estimated the total cost of moving the ramps, resurfacing the city parking lot and adding the decomposed granite to the private property at $25,000. Wagner said if the owner of the private lot agrees to lend it to the city for parking, the city council would have to approve the funds for the move. Wagner also noted that Soboroff had previously pledged $25,000 toward a new skate park, and suggested that Soboroff could donate the funds now.
In a phone interview on Monday, Soboroff told The Malibu Times,“I’ll give them the $25,000 with 24 hours notice anytime they need it.”
Wagner said the ad hoc skate park committee, which consists of himself and Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, met last week with City Manager Jim Thorsen, Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Mark Wetton and Gold to explore the possibility of moving the skate ramps to Bluffs Park. They were scheduled to meet again this week to confirm approval from the owner of the private lot.
“We’re asking [the property owner] to loan us his property for a while to park [park goers’] cars while we use [the city’s] property for the skate park,” Wagner told The Malibu Times Friday in a phone interview.
Wagner said the city used the private lot two weekends ago for extra parking during Chumash Day. The dirt lot “has already been compacted, flattened out, ready to go,” Wagner said.
Gold wrote in an email to The Malibu Times Monday that the owner of the property “is continuing to work with the City of Malibu to address the needs of the community and all visitors to Bluffs Park.”
Aside from the expense of moving the ramps, Wagner said the city’s parking lot by the Landon Center would have to be resurfaced to make it suitable for skating. Decomposed granite would also have to be added to the vacant lot to make it suitable for parking and prevent it from turning “into a dust bowl,” Wagner said.
If the move happens, Wagner envisions the skate park being in Bluffs Park for a year or two. The city would still have to find a permanent home for the skate park.
The city leases the current site of the skate park from Soboroff at no cost. However, Soboroff terminated the lease in December, giving the city 90 days to move the park. Soboroff agreed to extend the lease in January on the condition that the city form a committee to find a permanent home for the skate park.
Soboroff submitted an application to the city in May last year to develop the six-acre parcel of land located at Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road. He plans to build a 24,000-square-foot Whole Foods store and four buildings totaling 14,000 square feet of additional retail space, with up to 4,000 square feet dedicated to a restaurant and food service at the site.