Photo Credit: Prince George¹s County Department of Parks and Recreation
In 2009, a group of local high school-aged skateboarding enthusiasts—frustrated by a lack of nearby skateboarding opportunities—lobbied their state delegate for funding to build a skatepark. House Appropriations Bill 724 provided the initial funding, which the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), Prince George’s County, gladly matched. A celebratory-announcement meeting was held that summer to start the design process. M-NCPPC determined that Cosca Park would be a good site for the skatepark. The 690-acre site is located in Clinton, Md., 10 miles southeast of the nation’s capital.
A Suitable Site
Cosca Park had the natural features of hills, steep slopes, and forested areas. The project manager and team members analyzed the site for the development potential of the skatepark. Landscape architects are skilled at conducting site assessments for development opportunities and constraints. Many factors, such as views, existing soil, mature trees, possible erosion, parking availability, accessible access, and proximity to other park facilities, are reviewed. As a project manager, the goal is to determine the costs associated with development and how to maintain the approved budget, identify the programming space, and meet the scope of work requested. Strategic planning involved meeting with the stakeholders, the park maintenance staff, and park operational staff. After several meetings with design and operational staff to explore the heavily wooded regional park, it was apparent that all of the flat, open spaces were already developed with recreational features and infrastructure. Ultimately, the location available for the skatepark was a one-acre, eroded hillside with an under-used family picnic area. Redevelopment for this site was a challenge, and a creative solution had to be determined for an effective use of the hillside location. Accessibility issues had to be resolved. The goal was to transform the existing hillside slopes into a special skatepark feature, thereby adding interest to the design elements.
Fluid Design Changes
The M-NCPPC landscape-architect project manager, park staff, and skatepark stakeholders collaborated to develop an initial, creative, conceptual site plan. An important design objective determined how large a skatepark the Capital Improvement Program budget could support. The M-NCPPC project manager chose to partner with a design-build firm, the American Ramp Company (ARC). ARC provided a wide range of services and offered to collaborate with the stakeholders and community skateboard activists. One of the strategies used to obtain ideas for the design was to facilitate multiple hands-on visioning sessions with the stakeholders and community skateboard participants. These sessions used progressive IT, computer-based technology to produce “live” design changes from the feedback. The users felt included in the actual design of the skatepark. The stakeholders were interested in a skatepark that was suitable for both beginner and intermediate skaters, and that could provide a few skilled features to entice the advanced user to enjoy the park.