Etnies Skatepark, Lake Forest Fees Raise In 2020

LAKE FOREST, CA —It will cost more for skateboarders to visit the Lake Forest Etnies Skate park starting January 1, the city says. Lake Forest reminded residents that specific fees are raising in 2020, after a thorough review of the city's fee schedule in April and May of this year. One of those areas affected by the rate hikes in the city's skate facility..

Fees make up 6 percent of the city's budget, and according to Mayor Mark Tettemer said in a video release. "The city hasn't reviewed its fees in over a dozen years."

At Etnies Skate Park, currently, young skaters only need proof of residency and a $15 waiver to skate for free. Non-residents can pay the $15 waiver plus annual membership to skate.

In 2020, those fees will change.

Residents who want their children to have an annual membership will have to pay $50 for kids 17 and younger, with $10 for each additional child.

Resident adults, 18 and older, will have to pay a membership fee of $100 per year, the Etnies Website states. Non-residents can get an annual skateboard membership for $150 per year. Day passes for the skatepark for 17 and younger are $3, and $5 for those 18 and up, the city said.

A consultant guided the city to help develop a fee schedule that more accurately represents current costs for civic events, according to Tettemer. The skate park was just one area where residents will feel the pinch.

New fees will take effect for the Skate Park, permit-parking and other programs, the city said.

The popular Etnies Skate Park has been free for residents since it opened in 2003. After experts reviewed the costs to run the facility, they discovered that the city only gets 17 percent of the maintenance and staffing costs through fees.

Raising fees for the Etnies Skate Park, even minutely, will help to recapture a portion of the expenses related to operating the facility, Scott Wasserman, Director of Community Services told Patch.

"This will help ensure the long-term viability of the Etnies Skate Park," Wasserman said. According to Wasserman, the city will analyze the impact of the fees, as well as feedback from the public on the changes, in the summer of 2020.

The Lake Forest City Council approved the fee hikes before the June budget approval, intending to make special programs be "more self-supporting," Mayor Mark Tettemer said.

"No one wants to pay fees, and city councils don't like to raise them," Tettemer said at the time. "It's not popular, but it has to be done."