Lorain Council backs east side skatepark

LORAIN — A skate park will be built and opened on Lorain's east side this year. Council members unanimously authorized the sale of $600,000 in bonds for the construction of a 17,000-square-foot skate park at Longfellow Park. "This project is going to be built this year and finished this year," Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion assured Council and audience members at Monday's meeting. The two-phase project, totaling about $1.3 million, will be paid for via $852,000 in community development block grant funds, a $20,000 donation from professional skateboarder Chad Muska and the bonds. The project will not cost anything from the city's general fund. Both phases will be completed this year, in part due to the time constraints placed by using block grant funds for a portion of the work. Carrion expects to break ground this summer, with the project completed in November. The skate park, designed by Spohn Ranch with input from local skaters and BMXers, will be on the southern portion of Longfellow Park on the old baseball field. Once the skate park itself is complete, the city may look to add additional parking and lighting, Carrion said. Those bonds will be repaid over a 20-year term through fundraising and the parks budget, Carrion said. There is a community effort to raise $50,000 for the park, with members of the group at Monday's Council meeting. Council members and residents alike lauded the project, which, in its most recent iteration has been in the works since 2021, though talks of a skate park have ebbed and flowed in the city since the early 1990s. Muska, whose parents were born in Lorain and who spent his early childhood in the city, has backed the project since its inception. "Skateboarding has brought me all around the world and back and it has taught me many life lessons that I carry with me daily through my business practices, through my communication with people to my understanding of life in general," he told Council on Monday. "I truly believe that this place will be an amazing place to put Lorain on the map … It would be part of my life accomplishments to see a skatepark be built in the place that I was born and to hopefully bring out the next professional skateboarders and BMXers and all-wheel sports like." The next generation of professional athletes also spoke in support. Huck Kurinsky, 11, of Bay Village, a four-time BMX national champion sponsored by the bicycle brand Huffy, said he owes his success to his local skate park and was excited to see what Lorain could offer. Andy Drwal, D-1st Ward, said the project is long overdue. He noted it was something his predecessor, Beth Henley, long supported. Mayor Jack Bradley said there have long been complaints about the lack of programming or options for young people in the city. He felt the skate park would be as "spectacular" as the recently opened KartPlex, also on the east side. "Olympic champions start at these types of places," Bradley said. "We don't know where our next world champion is, but we're going to give our young people an opportunity to prove themselves." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.