Skate Park Project Picks Up Speed

A group of community-minded Orange County residents are ramping up their efforts to build a skate park.

On Sunday, August 20, Just Orange and the Avis Beasley Community Outreach Group hosted a joint meeting at Veterans Park in the town of Orange. Those in attendance had an opportunity to ask questions about the proposed skate park and provide feedback while enjoying music by DJ Flatline and lunch from Mama’s Soul Food truck.

Just Orange, a nonpartisan youth civic group founded by Dani Rivera with Laura and Sully Carter in 2020, provides local teens and children with opportunities to see how government works and affect change in their community. Over the last few years, Just Orange has connected its members with town council and the board of supervisors, along with state and federal leaders including Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Del. Nick Freitas.

“We are simply trying to teach these young people how to make their local government work for them,” Rivera said.

More recently, members expressed a need for more youth activities within the county, and the group got to work making plans and gathering support from local government and community leaders. When Chrystie Beasley, founder of the Gordonsville-based Avis Beasley Community Outreach Group, heard about the efforts, she felt that the skate park meshed with her own organization’s goals in the community and offered a helping hand.

“Rather than competing for the support, we opted to come together to actually get this done,” Beasley explained, adding that she hopes the skate part project will be a “stepping stone” to other needed resources for local youth, such as the recreation center that the nonprofit has been working toward since 2017.

Plans for the park are being developed using the Tony Hawk Foundation’s skate park development guide, and Just Orange is currently in talks with the American Ramp Company to solidify the design. In addition to the standard pipes and ramps, the community group wants to include a BMX pump track, a dedicated area for young learners, and a green area with a pavilion for families and non-skaters.

The piece of property that Just Orange and Avis Beasley Community Outreach have set their sights on is owned by the Town of Orange and situated near Route 20 Market and the Town of Orange Police Department. By utilizing a publicly owned property in close proximity to a police station, the project’s organizers hope to cut costs and alleviate safety concerns, Rivera said. On September 18, Just Orange and Avis Beasley Community Outreach will present their plans to Orange Town Council in the hopes of having the space designated for use as a skate park.

Construction costs, which are estimated to fall between $350,000 and $500,000, will be raised by the two community organizations, while maintenance would fall under the town’s public park system. Rivera is also working to get buy-in at the county level by asking Orange County Parks and Recreation to develop programming at the proposed park.

“What we're looking for is really unique in that we want the town and the county to work together on this project,” she shared.

Ultimately, Rivera hopes that the same spirit of cooperation will extend far beyond the park’s technical operations. As people from throughout the community gather together at the park, she wants it to serve as a literal common ground that everyone can be proud of.

“I think that, in and of itself, is so worth doing — to show that despite maybe personal preferences, political standings, that at the end of the day we are a community,” Rivera shared. “We see each other at Food Lion. We see each other at Sheetz. We're passing by each other all the time. This is our home. And why should we not come together and make this something that could be an opportunity for our kids to be themselves and express themselves in a safe way?”

Just Orange youth ambassadors will present their plans for the proposed skate park to Orange Town Council on Monday, September 18, at 7 p.m. in the Orange Community Meeting Room, located at 235 Warren Street. For more information about Just Orange, visit their Facebook page here. To learn more about Avis Beasley Community Outreach Group, visit www.avisbcommunityoutreach.com.

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