Dormont Skate Park Design Meeting Scheduled

The nonprofit group that wants to build a skatepark in Dormont will hold a public meeting later this month to get design input.

Anyone who wants to have a say in what features they want in a skatepark is welcome to the 7 p.m. meeting May 26 at the , said Mary Pitcher, president of the Pitcher Park Memorial Skatepark.

Pitcher said she’s visited other skateparks in the area and has found varying opinions on what features skateparks should and shouldn't have.

“Pitcher Park would like to build a skatepark that is good for beginners but challenging and fun enough to draw the likes of Tony Hawk sneaking in to use it someday and tweeting about it,” she said.

The meeting is not to debate whether the skatepark should be built, Pitcher said.

The skatepark, which would be built along Banksville Road where the tennis courts are, is contingent upon Pitcher being able to raise an estimated $500,000. Council approved the skatepark 4-3 last April.

Representatives of Grindline Skateparks Inc. of Seattle will be at the meeting. The company is handling design and construction drawings.

Pitcher said professional skateboarder Mike Vallely has also agreed to help in the park’s design.

Pitcher’s organization was recently granted nonprofit and charity status. Shortly after that, the Tony Hawk Foundation notified Pitcher that Ken Schultz, a former Bridgeville man now living in Arizona, wanted to help, according to Pitcher.

Schultz donated $40,000 to help with design costs through the Ken and Carol Schultz Foundation. The Tony Hawk Foundation previously gave $10,000 toward the skatepark.

Pitcher wants to build the skatepark in memory of two of her four sons, Vincent, 21, and Stephen, 19, who drowned in 2008 while on a camping trip in the Kinzua Reservoir.