Kirkland Takes New Turn At Skateboards -- City Considers Operating Special Park To Feature Sport

KIRKLAND - Skateboarding hasn't been a popular word in Kirkland City Hall the past few years, with businesses and people downtown regularly complaining about kids on boards intimidating customers and generally creating a nuisance.

Nearly three years ago, the city passed skateboard restrictions.

Now, however, officials are taking a tentative, unexpected look at cooperating, rather than cracking down, with the possibility of operating a skateboard facility.

City Manager Terry Ellis said staff members hope to finish soon a study that not only examines cost, but how other cities with skateboard facilities have managed the liability issue.

REVIEWING BAN

The City Council asked for the study after members of Lake Washington Youth Advocates urged Kirkland to re-examine its skateboard ban in certain areas and consider a skateboard park.

Ralph Tomaino, president of the group, said the fact the city is taking the first step is remarkable.

"They may not actually do anything," he said, "but this is more than they've done before. So that's positive."

Portland and Vancouver, B.C., have places to skateboard, facilities, Kirkland officials noted, and the Seattle City Council recently approved a project allowing a private group to build a skateboard park in the city.

There was a popular skateboard half-barrel tube on Bainbridge Island for a few years until it was torn down in 1989 because not enough users were island residents, said Dian Swanson, secretary of the island Parks and Recreation District.

As for liability concerns, Swanson said most of the injuries were minor.

Gail Gorud, a Kirkland city attorney working on the study, said liability can differ depending on the skateboard apparatus.

Based on discussions with insurance representatives, Gorud said skateboard places with the lowest risk are uncomplicated natural hillsides. But, she added, "those aren't always very popular."

On the other hand, those with the highest risk - artificial structures with harder surfaces and designs that promote jumps and difficult maneuvers - are a skateboarder's dream.

Kirkland studied liability a couple of years ago, Gorud said, and insurers recommended the city stay away from such a project.

LIABILITY FEARS

But Mark Newcomb, owner of the Looney Tunes Sporting Goods store in Kirkland, said the liability issue is overemphasized.

"There's more kids who get hurt playing football than there are those who get hurt skating," he said.

"And skateboarding injuries are minor compared to those you get in other sports. There's a lot of scraped knees and elbows, but a skate park is going to require pads and helmets."

Skateboarding is illegal on city streets, on private property, at City Hall, Peter Kirk Park and the Plaza of Champions.

It's legal on sidewalks, Ellis said, as long as skateboarders don't bump into pedestrians.

Property damage and vandalism prompted officials to ban the activity in certain areas in 1990. Ellis said teens on skateboards had damaged planters and employees' cars at City Hall and frightened pedestrians in the park.