Rhinelander skate park project takes big step forward

Council approves design, engineering company

By Eileen Persike

Editor

RHINELANDER – It was December 2021 when a group of impassioned young people spoke to the Rhinelander City Council, asking them for help in creating more inclusive spaces for people, especially at-risk youth. A space like a skate park. Their interest was renewed following the death of a friend who was a fellow member of the skateboard group Over It.

The city responded with earmarking $75,000 for engineering and design of a skate park.

Sixteen months later, the council has unanimously approved Hunger Skateparks, headquartered in Bloomington, Ind., to begin the project at a base cost of $50,000.

“They are a professional outfit that does this all over the country and they do quality builds,” City Administrator Patrick Reagan said at the April 8 council meeting. “With that in mind we got a design proposal along with construction documents.”

Hunger Skateparks is “skateboarder owned and operated, and a full service concrete skate park design and build company,” according to its website.

The design process will include consultation, layout and conceptual redenderings. At the top of the list is working with the city and stakeholders to establish a budget, timeline and wish list of features. State in the company’s proposal is that representatives will hold community meetings to present designs and get feedback, consult on grant writing and bid preparation if needed. The timeline for this part of work is 16-18 weeks from delivery of site information.

The contract also factors in bid-ready industry standard construction documents. Timeline for the completion of the construction documents is 8-10 weeks from design concept completion.

Making the decision to choose Hunger Skateparks was a committee consisting of city alderpersons, the city administrator, representatives from ArtStart and members of the Over It group. The park will be located at Hodag Park near the beach house. A preliminary estimate for the park’s size is 10,000 to 14,000 square feet with an estimated budget of $500,000 to $750,000.

The skate park is also Rhinelander’s focus as one of 18 cities chosen to participate in the One Nation One Project national arts and health initiative. With ArtStart taking the lead, the committee is working on addressing mental health by creating this park – expected to eventually become an intergenerational skatepark plaza and additional programming. In July this year, the Rhinelander project will be unveiled the same day as other ONOP projects across the country.

Additional to the $50,000 design cost is travel cost for two designers, estimated at $4,200 per visit and any additional engineering costs, such as special required permitting. Reagan said there is no timeline in place yet to begin the design and engineering phase.