Rochester approves funding for outdoor skate park

ROCHESTER — After over 10 years of advocacy from members of the community, the city of Rochester finally has plans for an outdoor skate park.

The Rochester City Council recently approved $500,000 for a skate park in its 2025 fiscal budget, which began July 1, 2024.

The Greater Rochester Skate Park Leadership Advisory Team, or SPLAT, has been working to secure a skate park in the city since 2013 following the closing of the former indoor South Street Skatepark.

South Street Skateshop owners Von and Linda Gallaher and former Rochester Mayor Cathy Daldin have been at the helm, urging the City Council to provide a dedicated environment for skateboarders that they say would help foster a sense of community and belonging among youth.

“It’s been a very trying process, that’s for sure,” Von Gallaher admitted. “We’ve been working on this for 11 years, with multiple government administrations and multitudes of people that have gone through the City Council that have been really, really supportive. I’m without words that it’s happening. It’s been a long haul.”

Preliminary plans include an above-ground “plaza-style” skate park to be built in the grassy area just north of the baseball diamond at Scott Street Park, located at 580 Woodward.

The ball is already rolling, with crews recently finishing soil and environmental testing in the area.

“When you’re building a skate park, you have to understand what type of earth you’re building in, so that you can determine the footings,” Von Gallaher said. “The results have come back … and everything looks good.”

The next step in the process is to develop a request for proposals and have skatepark builders bid for the project, which Gallaher said should be “happening pretty quick.”

“Once we get the bids back and the project is awarded to the builders, then we’ll go into the planning phase of the park. Once we do that planning phase, then we’ll start opening it up to the community of skaters that want input as to what they’re looking for, what key elements they would like to see in this park,” he explained.

“We just want to make sure that we are building what people actually want and what they will actually skate on,” added Rochester Department of Public Works Director Alek Mizikar.

Typically, Gallaher said, skateboard parks run between $45-$55 per square foot.

“$500,000 would probably build a 10,000-square-foot park, which is a nice size park,” he said. “I’d like it to be a little bigger, but certainly, 10,000 square feet is a nice park.”

Construction will likely begin next spring or summer.

“I couldn’t be more excited — I just couldn’t,” said Von Gallaher. “I can’t wait to be the first on that skatepark.”

SPLAT is continuing to try to raise funds for additional elements of the park via a 501(c)(3) created through the Rochester Community Foundation.

For more information or to donate to the skatepark, scan the QR code, visit www.facebook.com/GRSPSPLAT or email GRSPSPLAT@gmail.com.