Photo: Desert Recreation District
The Palm Desert Parks and Recreation Committee voted Tuesday to recommend that the City Council shift the Civic Center skate park from a supervised model to an unsupervised one, hoping to boost usage and save portions of the roughly $88,000 annual cost of staffing the facility.
The recommendation being made to the City Council would see the model run through the end of the calendar year, with a subcommittee assigned to monitor the park weekly and report back on whether the change increases usage.
Community Services Manager Shawn Muir told the committee the skate park currently operates seven days a week for either skating or biking, with an attendant on site during all open hours. The attendant enforces state helmet and pad requirements, checks in users and maintains the facility.
Muir said the supervised model costs the city about $88,000 annually and limits the park to set hours, unlike many unsupervised skate parks that offer open, all-day access.
Much of the committee’s discussion centered on whether supervision requirements are discouraging use.
Several members said they believe the current model has failed to attract skaters and bikers, arguing that limited hours and mandatory protective gear may be pushing young people to gather and ride elsewhere.
Committee member David O’Donnell said the park appears underused and urged the city to test a different approach.
“That thing is just dying out there,” O’Donnell said. “There’s nobody using it. I would make the recommendation that at least for a year, we try something different.”
O’Donnell said he has spoken with local bike and skate shop owners to gather feedback and hopes to invite them to a future meeting to share ideas on how to boost participation.
Not everyone agreed, with one warning that removing supervision could expose the city to liability, saying the cost of a single lawsuit could outweigh any savings and calling an unattended park a mistake.
Another member said he spoke with young people the night before who were skating on a nearby roundabout instead of at the skate park because they did not want to wear the required protective gear.
“I think if the skate park had been open to them, they would have been over there instead of on the roundabout,” he said.
The committee noted that the Desert Recreation District tracks monthly skate park usage, which will provide a baseline for comparing attendance before and after any operational change.
The recommendation now goes to the City Council for consideration.