Could this parking lot become a new skate park?

This summer, GGWash hosted two interns through Montgomery County’s Summer RISE program, a five-week program where high school students can learn about different careers. As part of their experience, both of our interns identified a problem in their community, developed a proposed solution, and met with county officials to make the case for it–then wrote about their experiences. This piece is from Brianna McLeggon, a rising senior at Poolesville High School in Poolesville.

To my fellow skaters in Montgomery County,

I recently had the exciting opportunity to identify an issue within my neighborhood and work towards resolving it. And let me tell you, it’s a passion project that hits close to home for me — quite literally.

I am a long-time resident of Germantown, Maryland. I have a strong personal connection to the Germantown Town Center area, as I utilize it for both leisure and community activities. I applied to Summer RISE, a program created for the purpose of allowing students to gain hands-on experience in their work field of choice. I was then connected to GGWash and after being notified of my opportunity, I was given a task to identify an issue that I’d like to resolve within my neighborhood.

It just so happens that where I live, there are a lot of skaters and no skate park. I talked to dozens of them, asked them what they felt they would benefit from, and what they would want to see in their ideal skate park. Their main concerns were transportation and equipment. They expressed that the nearest skateparks were inconveniently placed, and there wasn’t a large variety of equipment they could use to practice new skills. While talking to them, I realized just how much we would benefit from having a skate park in our community. The area, while vibrant, is heavily commercial, and lacks free, engaging public spaces for families and youth. Adding a skatepark would address this gap, offering a dynamic space where community members can gather, exercise, and build connections.

From the conversations I had with the Germantown skating community, their ideal site would be around 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. enough space to include features like transitions, banks, extensions, hips, ledges, stairs, and rails. According to estimates I found, building a skatepark like that could range from anywhere between $200,000 to $550,000. I brought the idea of creating a skatepark in the Germantown Library area to the GGWash team, where we brainstormed even more creative concepts for the park. But this was just the beginning. Now I needed to find proper representations of what the skatepark could potentially look like, using references both locally and nationally. My research brought me to the Rockville Skate Park in Maryland. It’s 15,000 square feet, and the total cost was approximately $400,000.

This skatepark is incredibly big, with a terrain that is suitable for every rider, regardless of skill level, age, or skating style. It includes street and park elements, obstacles, terrain ramps, bowls, and rails. They also have a family/gender neutral restroom, and a black fence surrounding the skatepark. Although it’s much larger than the site I envision for Germantown, the layout is lovely and it does an excellent job in ensuring that skateboarding is enjoyable for everyone.

I then found a rendered design study of a newly built skatepark in Kelseyville, California, that fits the requirements of the ideal site more. It is 9,000 square feet of pure awesomeness.

It doesn’t offer the same amenities as the Rockville Skate Park, however it is more efficient in providing a variety of skating equipment for a broader skill set. There is also more room to skate as opposed to the Rockville Skate Park, because its amenities occupy more space.

I then had to find an area within the realms of my neighborhood to consider building the skatepark. I went on Google Maps to find the areas I thought were ideal, and had enough space to contain the needs of the community. The first area I thought of was behind the Germantown police station.

I chose this area because there was once a DIY skatepark here, created and maintained by the police and residents. It’s also placed conveniently close to a variety of restaurants, multiple restrooms, and transportation. I did have a few concerns about this area, however. I wasn’t entirely sure if the land was able to be built on, and even then, I would need to take into consideration the cars on the road as a potential hazard. That would also add to the cost of the skatepark.

The second site was right across the street from the police station. It is a parking lot owned by the Regal Movie theater, which may shut down in the future. The parking lot is seldom used, and has more than enough space for a skatepark. The trees/shrubs surrounding the parking lot serve as a natural fence, and just like the first site, it is also placed close to transportation, restrooms, and food places. However, the future plans of Regal and the parking lot are unknown, meaning it’s especially hard to tell whether this area is able to be used.

With the help of my host and the team, I learned how to effectively communicate our vision and reach out to the right people to make it happen. We met with Montgomery County councilmember Evan Glass, and Darren Flusche, the deputy director of Montgomery Parks.

And now, here I am, sharing my experience. I’m thrilled to be involved in making a difference in our community and advocating for something that means so much to us.

So, to my fellow skaters, stay tuned. The wheels are in motion, and we’re one step closer to bringing a skate park to Montgomery County. Together, we can make it happen.