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The LaSalle Park Skate Plaza "Skatepark Design Workshop" is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Belle Center, located at 104 Maryland St.
The project will cost $250,000, according to the city of Buffalo.
The city's Division of Parks and Recreation, the design team of New Line Skateparks, Inc., and members of the Buffalo skateboarding community will faciliate the meeting. Skateboarders and those interested in the project are invited to attend the workshop, so the design firm can incorporate community ideas into the park's design.
New Line Skateparks, Inc. is "internationally recognized," Mayor Byron Brown said during a Wednesday press conference at LaSalle Park to announce the upcoming meeting.
"And this company will work with us and the skateboarding community to really design the skatepark that will be here in LaSalle Park," Brown said.
The city has allocated $100,000 in 2012 capital funds for the first phase of the project, which could start by the end of the year with ground preparations at the site where crews will build the concrete Skate Plaza.
It's a project some young people have been calling for since Brown has been in office, he said, adding that he often seen skateboarders in some dangerous places, especially around streets with plenty of vehicular traffic.
"Routinely, I've found myself stopping and speaking to some of the skateboarders and asking them if we built a skatepark, would you use it and would you stop skating in areas that maybe are not as safe as they could be," Brown said.
The target date of completion is next summer. A second public hearing to review the final skate-park design will be held in mid-October.
