While team sports and Joint Recreation. programs provide structured activities, our youth also need the kind of informal, social, self-scheduled, individual athletic activities a skate park provides.

While youth can and do enjoy sailing, tennis and other activities shared by adults, they also need activities popular and particular to the youth such as video games, skateboarding, in-line skating and BMX biking. They also need a social space that, while supervised or monitored, is welcoming and identified by and for them such as a skate park can provide.

For this age group, skate boarding, in- line skating, and BMX biking are not unusual recreational activities. They appeal to the youth along with baseball, basketball, soccer and other activities. They appeal to the youth along with baseball, basketball, soccer, and other activities.

Surveys conducted by tThe Committee for a Skate Parkskate park Committee among Tiburon and Belvedere youth showed a strong desire to use a Tiburon skate park. Of 740 students surveyed, 386 responded that they would use a skate park. If only one out of ten of these positive respondents used the skate park on a given day the ± 40 users would be a more than adequate turnout. A higher number of local youth might use the skate park if it existed to expose them to skate boarding, in-line skatingroller blades and BMX bikinges.

There are 1,809 Tiburon and Belvedere youth in ages 5 – 196 ¹ that would be served by the skate park. If only 4% of this age group used the skate park on a given day, this would be ± 772 per day. [An informal tally indicates that between 5%-10% of Del Mar School boys bring their skateboards to school every day even with no skate park to go to].

We see young people skateboarding, roller bladinin-line skatingg and BMX biking around Tiburon and Belvedere even though in many cases the uses are not permitted in those locations.

It is understood that the layout and features of the skate park can and shall be designed to appeal to the local user and the beginning and younger users as opposed to more advanced outside older users.

Skate parks in other communities show use levels comparable to that expected in Tiburon.

Communities such as Mill Valley, Corte Madera and San Anselmo have also determined that skate parks in their communities will be supported and are in the process of building them.

A skate park and the sports it accommodates can provide an outlet to keep kids out of trouble. As Mr. Larry Dito, rRecreation Ddirector for the City of Novato, testified to the Task Force, "if we can keep 1, 5, or 10 kids out of trouble the skate park is worth it. We believe that for every one dollar invested, it pays back nine".

McKegney Green and South Knoll Park are 335,000 SF. At 50 kids per weekday and 250 kids per summer weekend = 107 kids per day. .0003 kids/SF [data is from Public Works]

A pair of tennis courts is 14,400 SF. Assuming at least one game of singles on one court for 8 hours per day = 16 players per day for weekdays and weekends average = .0011 players/SF

The skate park may average 12,000 SF [10,000SF up to 14,000SF have been proposed] Assuming the low projected usage of 14 users per day average = .0012 users/SF. If only 5% of the positive respondents to the survey use the skate park that would mean 20 users per day = .0016 users/SF or 5 times higher than McKegney green soccer and play areas, and 1.5 times higher than the public tennis courts.

Just as the St. Hillary’s Gym has not sapped energy for the youth room at the library and for the skate park, there appears to be ample energy and resources for other projects.

The skate park should not be seen as the end of efforts for the youth but another step in providing them with the best environment.

The skateboarders are predominantly boys but there are some girls who skateboard.

When originally conceived, baseball, and soccer were also thought of as strictly boy activities yet they are now played by both boys and girls. There is no reason to suppose that skate park activities would not enjoy this same wider participation over time.

Based on the data provided, Tthe roller bladers and in-line skaters are predominantly girls, and while this is a smaller number than skateboarders it does amount to a reasonable balance between boys and girls comparable to baseball and basketball.

Other activities such as art programs, dance and theater have greater participation by girls and these are not criticized or not sponsored because boys participate in smaller numbers.

Experience Observation has indicated that while some riders will come from outside at first, in general the great majority of users are locals. This will be even truer as so many other communities are building more accessible skate parks around our area.

The Tiburon skate park needs to be designed as a beginner park for the 5 – 1615 age group; with out the most challenging elements that attract the older outside users.

Skateboarding has been around for 40 years and the developments in the equipment in the last 20 years have led to the changes in the sport we see today. Roller-skating has been around for 80 years in competitive forms. While these sports will gain and loose in popularity over time and it is not a certainty that changes in the sports will not occur, we believe that there is reason to believe that adequate interest will remain given the life of the skate park.

While the popularity of these sports may change over time, it is reasonable to believe that adequate interest will remain throughout the expected life of the skate park.