SLO County group needs more money for new skate park — and the clock is ticking
Skate-park enthusiasts in Cambria are back in fundraising mode with a newly assigned goal of amassing an additional $329,000 within the next six months.
The Cambria Community Services District gave Skate Cambria that deadline Thursday on a 4-1 vote at the end of a special, packed-house, 2.5-hour meeting. Director Tom Gray voted no.
When Skate Cambria, also known as Skate Park Cambria, fulfills its newly specified mandate, the district finally will issue construction requests for proposals (RFP). That’s the next step toward toward ollie-jumping the estimated $1.1 million project into its construction and completion.
Nearly all the additional $329,000 that Skate Cambria has to raise — which is 12.5% above the average of the current construction estimates — will provide for contingencies.
In the past five years of fundraising, the group has accumulated “close to half a million dollars” toward the goal of a new skate park, according to spokesperson Juli Amodei.
Skate Cambria already is chipping away at its new goal. At a “Cap the Gap Picnic FOR the Park” event Sunday, Skate Cambria donors gave an additional $12,500 toward the new goal.
Other funds already accumulated toward building the new park include the CCSD’s donation of $178,000, a county tourism board grant of $47,500 for a mandatory restroom, and a State Parks and Recreation grant of $600,000, which requires a 50/50 match from other funds raised. The district formally accepted the latter earlier this month.
District management and its board members have repeatedly explained their fiscal concerns at meetings and in writing about the project — most recently in its April 24 agenda packet — and the risks of not having all the money in hand before they send out the RFPs.
For instance, general manager Matt McElhenie included nearly 1,200 words about it in his most recent e-blast newsletter to the community, mostly outlining his concerns. However, the district “remains fully committed to completing this project under the terms agreed to by the district and the Cambria Community Council and consistent with the expectations of the granting agencies and the Cambria community,” he wrote.
Among his concerns, McElhenie said, are escalating construction costs, inflation, cost overruns, the difference between estimates and formal bids, and protecting the district’s general funds that cover the community’s fire protection, emergency response and facility maintenance.
Skate Cambria’s fundraising efforts have paid off
The new skating facility on Main Street would replace a previous skating area on that same location. That park was demolished in early 2020. The CSD owns the land, which is across from the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building.
All monies raised by Skate Cambria and pledges that have been promised are being held by the the nonprofit Cambria Community Council. The CSD holds all the grant funds.
Cambria has few recreational facilities for youth, and for months, Skate Cambria has sought from the CSD how much more money was needed and by when.
They now know it’s $329,000 and within six months.
Fundraising confidence remains high among the park’s supporters, some of whom have been working for five years toward getting the skating project over the final jump.
Of the 14-member skate-park group’s board, nine are young Cambrians anxious to get on their boards or skates at the new park. Some of those youngsters have spoken out passionately at various CSD meetings about the topic, including the most recent one.
On Thursday, that included a few who expressed concerns about the project and many who support it, including Coast Union High School senior Dane Volz. He told the board he’d had to miss his economics class to be at the meeting and “and speak for the younger generation.”
At Thursday’s meeting, Amodei told the CSD board that the current donations had come “from as far away as Canada, from piggy banks, lemonade stands,” industry and corporate sponsors and individuals.
“In this community that’s so supportive of our youth, we at Skate Cambria are confident we can raise the money. We really, truly want to get this project across the line,” Amodei told The Tribune in March. “We just needed to know the district is still behind the project and what else we must do to get it under construction.”
To donate to Cambria’s new skatepark, go to www.skatecambria.com.
