Talent’s Skate Park will get its life extended with an “over-pour” project that will preserve the park’s exact footprint. The work will probably be done in the summer.

Talent officials have put together a request for proposals for the skate park work. It is being reviewed by Public Works Director Jeff Ballard. If the RFP can be issued this year, work could potentially start by late spring or early summer, depending on what a contractor’s schedule looks like.

A new city parks master plan adopted in 2020 called for repair of the park after skateboarders called for its retention. During the plan creation, a proposal to demolish the park and create a new one in Chuck Roberts Park drew strong opposition from skate park users.

“Everyone wants to keep the same site,” said Robert Slayton, city public works superintendent, who prepared the RFP.

“I met with local people before putting the package out. I had some conversations to make sure the skate community was still on the same page. They were all thoroughly excited that that was the game plan,” said Slayton.

Talent Parks Commission officials got a lot of input from the public at events and by other means when the plan was being developed, said Parks Commissioner Donna Ruiz. Questionnaires were filled out and commissioners talked with people.

“There’s some really big bowls and they like them,” said Ruiz. “The feedback was that the community wanted to see the bowls retained rather than having another park that would not keep the same features. We heard the public loud and clear that they did want to keep those features intact.”

A memorial at the park created by skateboarders to honor two fellow skaters who died in a vehicle accident will be retained, Ruiz said. Some repair work for the memorial will be done. The memorial includes the sculpture “Heaven is a Halfpipe” by local artist Kevin Christman.

“From my observations, the skate park is still getting the same amount of use it did 10 years ago. It’s a hugely used skate park,” said Slayton. On weekends, it’s not unusual for skaters to be waiting when a Public Works employee comes at 7:30 a.m. to open the park, he said.

The current surface has some issues, but they haven’t forced a shutdown. “We continue to do small repairs anytime when we have spalling and cracks,” said Slayton. The work is done with epoxy or fast-setting concrete. The over-pour will be 5 inches thick.

The skate park repairs will be funded through an American Rescue Plan award to the city. Estimates for the work have ranged from $250,000 up to a half-million dollars. City officials have been in contact with a couple firms in Oregon and some in California that specialize in skate park work as they have prepared the RFP.

“We are going to look for a seasoned contractor that has a good portfolio for this project,” said Slayton. While the work is an overlay, some design work will need to be done to figure out how to proceed.

“There will be some engineering on how to make it work by putting another skate park into that skate park,” said Slayton.

“The work will hopefully keep it good for a long time. The challenge is the bowls. They hold snow and water,” said Ruiz. Efforts will be made to deal with that issue during the rebuild.

Talent’s skate park was constructed in 1998 and was one of the first in the region. A skateboard website said it was the first in Southern Oregon and that it added momentum to efforts for quality skate parks across the state.

The park is located on Main Street across from Talent City Hall. It cost $60,000 at the time of construction and is 12,000 square feet in size. Skateboarders contributed to the construction costs at that time.

In another Talent parks project, the city’s Parks Commission will be sending out a questionnaire to the public to find out how to proceed with building of new tennis and pickleball courts at Chuck Roberts Park. The park’s master plan calls for relocating the courts to another area in the park.

The current courts in the park’s lower end sit atop a high groundwater table that has resulted in cracking of the surfaces. Attempt to repair the issue have not succeeded. The courts are now closed.

The questionnaire will ask the public where the courts should be located and what should be the mix of tennis and pickleball play areas. A sound wall will be created to reduce noise that might affect neighbors along the park’s south boundary, Ruiz said.

An RFP will be issued once the Parks Commission decides on a location, but that is probably a year away, said Slayton.