New Port Richey Skaters Rally Behind $900K Plan to Rebuild Aging Skatepark in Concrete

New Port Richey has set aside more than $900,000 to tear out its worn-down metal skatepark next to the city recreation center and replace it with an all-concrete facility, and local skaters are showing up to make sure their voices shape the final design before the city council votes.

The park has sat in slow decline for years. Ramps have been pulled out over time and never replaced, leaving a shrinking patchwork of metal features that longtime riders say is both limited and, in spots, unsafe. The city recently unveiled a rendering of what could come next, and skateboarders who grew up on that pavement turned out to get a look and to speak up.

Anthony "Biggs" Cataldo has been riding at the park for years and says even the little that's left keeps drawing people back. He said he still spends time there weekly and tries to bring more people out to the park, even with the limited setup that remains.

Willie Stansell has watched the equipment disappear piece by piece. Ramps kept getting taken out, he said, and for one reason or another they were never replaced.

The proposed design would ditch metal for poured concrete, a shift skaters argue is overdue. Stansell said cities across Florida are building the same kind of facility now, cement parks that hold up longer and are built to last for the kids who will use them for years to come. Cataldo pointed to the safety difference, noting that metal ramps with exposed edges are easier to get hurt on than a smooth concrete bowl, and said New Port Richey deserves a park that meets today's skateboarding standard.

What's already been approved

The city council has already taken one step toward the rebuild, approving a contract with Platform Group, a Tampa-based design-build firm known for skatepark work around the state, for what was described as a roughly 33-week renovation. That contract was valued at $475,000. The $900,000 the city has now set aside covers the fuller scope of the project, and the council still has to sign off on the final design before crews can break ground.

No construction start date has been announced. The design still has to clear a final council vote, and city officials have not said when that will happen. For a skating community that has waited years just to see a rendering, the next council meeting on the project is the one to watch.

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