Would you like to see a skateboarding facility in West Boca that provides a safe and supervised environment where young people could go to skateboard?

The Board of Directors of the West Boca Community Council recently passed a resolution by unanimous vote to encourage the establishment of just such a facility.

Skateboarding has become an increasingly popular sport among young people all across the country. The growing number of skateboard enthusiasts in West Boca skate in all the wrong places, such as HOA recreational facilities, on residential sidewalks and streets, and in the parking lots of commercial complexes. Currently, they have no place else to engage in this activity, which can be both a nuisance to others and a danger to themselves.

For those who think that a skateboard facility is too problematic because of liability issues, there are plenty of examples to go to school on. There are now thousands of such facilities all across the country – many operated by local governments, some by the private sector.

There are numerous skateboard facilities in our own area – in Coral Springs, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, West Boynton, and even within the city limits of Boca Raton. The one in West Boynton is the first such facility opened by the Palm Beach County Parks & Recreation Department. It’s located in an area loaded with senior communities and where the teen and pre-teen population is a fraction of West Boca’s.

The West Boca Community Council is encouraging the county to build a skateboard park in cavernous South County Regional Park, or perhaps in the much smaller Loggers Run Park on Palmetto.

Whether the county builds one or the private sector does, the time has come for a skateboard park to be built in West Boca.

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