Modesto heard concerns about outdoor roller skating rink. How did city respond?
Modesto may have an answer to the complaints that a proposed outdoor roller skating rink in East La Loma Park would disturb the peace and quiet of residents of the nearby Oakridge townhouses: Place the rink farther from the homes.
City parks and recreation staff conducted sound tests Wednesday at two locations, the site of the park’s former playground, which is next to the volleyball and basketball courts, and near the new playground, but not too near.
Brian Cromwell — who has been organizing Sunday skates at the volleyball and basketball courts — provided the music for the test, and several Oakridge residents whose townhouses are about 200 feet from the courts helped by telling parks and recreation staff what they heard as the music was played at different volumes at the two locations.
The music from Cromwell’s two speakers could be heard in the residents’ backyards and in their homes when it was played at the site of the former playground. These are the same speakers Cromwell uses for the Sunday skating events.
But residents said they could not hear anything from the speakers, which were playing a mix of rap, hip-hop and old school, when they were placed about 400 feet away from their homes. The volume also was turned down a bit, but not so low the skaters would not enjoy the music. This site is about 100 yards west of the new playground.
But the music is just one of several challenges the project faces.
The others include addressing concerns that the park already is too crowded and doesn’t have the parking for another amenity, as well as finding the money to build the rink. City officials have talked about the need to find partners in the community who would provide money, labor and materials for the rink.
Parks Planning and Development Manager Nathan Houx stressed the project is a proposal at this stage and would require City Council approval to become a reality.
But it’s a proposal Houx and other parks and recreation officials like. Roller skating is a wholesome, family activity, and East La Loma is a good location because it’s a popular regional park that is centrally located. It also has the paved Dry Creek Trail running through it. That provides a healthy alternative for reaching the park.
Houx said there has been a lot of interest in the proposal. He said parks and recreation has received more than 40 emails about it. By comparison, he said, most parks and recreation projects garner a handful of emails.
Second public meeting coming
He said about two-thirds of the emails are in support of the proposal, including some from Oakridge residents, and about one-third oppose it.
Houx said parks and recreation will hold another meeting after mid-June to update the public about the proposal, including the concerns that some have raised. The city will publicize the meeting once it has a date for it.
Modesto held the first meeting April 29 over Zoom, the videoconferencing platform.
Cromwell, 40, started the Facebook group Modesto Skates last fall, and it has 2,800 members. He has organized Sunday skating events at East La Loma Park since mid March. He has said those events typically draw 50 to 80 people but can draw as many as 100.
Modesto Skates is working with the city on a temporary home for the Sunday skating events at two of the tennis courts the city owns at Johansen High School. Members of Modesto Skates have been doing the work to makes the courts ready for skaters, and the city has been providing the materials.
The tennis courts could be ready this month. But Houx said the skating would take place only when school is not in session.
Others skaters may misbehave
Oakridge consists of 60 townhouses just south of the park. Many of the townhouses’ backyards overlook the park.
Some Oakridge residents say while Cromwell and the other skaters have been good neighbors by turning their music down, they fear that if the city builds a roller skating rink, other users won’t be as neighborly.
And some residents said the park already has enough problems without adding to them by building an outdoor skating rink. Those problems include drug use, vagrants and basketball players who play loud music and light up the court at night by parking their cars near it with the headlights on.
But Houx said the city’s experience is that increasing the good uses of its parks drives out the bad uses.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
