Construction is wrapping up as Nipomo residents anxiously await the opening of a new skate park.
“It’s kids on the night before Christmas. They cannot wait to open that present,” said Tom Slater, Nipomo skate park activist.
Slater is a teacher who advocated for the construction of the park and says the process started long ago.
“Eight years ago, I met with some kids in our skate club and they said we want a place to skate and they thought it was an impossible task,” Slater said.
In 2021, San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Senior Planner Shaun Cooper said the park would cost $1.5 million. One million came from County Parks Public Facility Fees and about $500,000 came from Proposition 68, which provides grants for park projects.
Slater estimates that once the project was fully funded, construction took just about eight months.
“They started as eighth graders and now they’re two years out of high school so it was a long wait but they are absolutely over the moon,” Slater said of his former students who called for the skate park.
Slater says that before this skate park was constructed, kids would have to travel to Santa Maria or Grover Beach to skate; however, many of these kids aren’t old enough to drive and don’t have access to transportation which led to kids skating in areas not intended for that use.
“I know we’ve had kids trying to skate on our back loading dock, so it’ll be nice for them to have a place that they can go and skate and practice their skills,” said Heidi Locascio, San Luis Obispo County Library System Nipomo Branch Manager.
Locascio works at the library next to the skate park and says the excitement is palpable.
“The community has been looking forward to having this skate park now for quite a while. I know the kids are very excited. They’re already here checking it out,” Locascio said.
The county has not yet released an exact date for the park's opening.
