Skateparks planned for in Allegheny County with the help of area teens are a step closer to becoming a reality. “By the end of the week, we should have the final design completed for Boyce and North parks,” said John Buerkle, partner at Pashek Associates, an architectural firm based on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The final design for South Park is complete, he said. “We got a lot of good feedback (during the public meetings),” county parks director Andy Baechle said of the input teens had in designing the skateparks, or “3B Parks — for boarders, bikes and blades.” Baechle cited in particular a meeting at the Boyce Park ski lodge in which 77 interested youngsters offered their ideas about what would make a successful 3B park. “Boyce was our biggest, most productive public meeting,” Baechle said. “There’s been a lot of local support (in the eastern suburbs) for the effort.” Buerkle said each park has its own design. Each will be about 15,000 square feet. “We didn’t want to do a cookie-cutter at each site,” Buerkle said. “We want to make them different so folks will drive to each one to experience the different features.” Buerkle said at Boyce, the 3B park will have an entry plaza, a square in the center and a quarter pipe area on one side. Other features will include a half-pipe area, concrete bowl, elbow-shaped bowl and oval bowl. An in-line skating area also will be featured. Each park is expected to cost between $250,000 and $300,000, he said. Of that nearly $1 million cost, about $500,000 is money from the Regional Asset District. Other funds include a $200,000 state grant and $100,000 from the county health department. The local communities are not contributing any money for the parks, Baechle said. Baechle said the 3B parks will be a perfect match for youngsters who don’t participate in team sports. “There’s a segment (of the population) out there that’s not into team sports,” Baechle said. “They are people who want to play with gravity.” Plum Councilman Steve Taylor, who collected nearly 2,000 signatures in support of the 3B park at Boyce, said he wants to provide recreation choices for all youngsters. “Our responsibility is to give all kids a fair chance to get involved in what they desire,” said Taylor, recreation committee chairman. Taylor said he will give an update on the 3B park at Boyce during council’s 7 p.m. meeting on Monday. Once the designs are complete, the county will put the projects out for bid. Baechle said all three are expected to be completed by the fall 2006. “They’ll be a great bang for the buck,” Baechle said.

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