Cedar Rapids opens new Riverside skatepark with improved features

Original park relocated to make way for flood control detention basin

Aug. 28, 2023 3:38 pm, Updated: Aug. 28, 2023 7:56 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS — Brandon Meyer, 31, of Cedar Rapids has been skateboarding for over 20 years — so like dozens of others in the city who’ve been without a permanent place to skate for the last year, he was ready to hit the new relocated and reconfigured one in Riverside Park.

The city of Cedar Rapids last weekend opened the facility, in the park at 1501 A St. SW, after building a detention basin as part of its permanent flood control system. The skatepark is now entirely made of concrete and features 28 obstacles — a variety of quarterpipes, wedges, ledges and more.

“It’s nice,” Meyer said. “I don’t have to go skate the streets anymore. To have a nice park with more obstacles and more to do, it’s a lot more fluent.”

The new skatepark cost about $1.5 million, Parks and Recreation Director Hashim Taylor said, using Iowa Flood Mitigation funds. Moving and upgrading the skatepark in Riverside is part of a $20 million detention basin, pump station and flood wall project adjacent to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. In flood events, detention basins store water until it can be safely pumped back into the Cedar River.

The city replaced elements of the skatepark with concrete instead of steel parts, in line with current standards. California-based Spohn Ranch, a global skatepark designer, worked on the new design along with Alburnett-based Pirc-Tobin Construction.

“Teamwork makes the dream work, and this project is an example of teamwork coming together and making this neighborhood skatepark happen,” Taylor said.

Cedar Rapids officials put equipment in Time Check Park to open a temporary skatepark in March so skaters had somewhere to go in the meantime. But without the facility at Riverside, Meyer said he’d skate on the streets downtown or venture to skateparks in other cities including Center Point, Evansdale, Waterloo, Marion and Des Moines — wherever his friends wanted to ride.

Having smooth concrete will help skaters so that when they fall, they “don’t get shredded up,” Meyer said.

“We got it under a weird circumstance, but we have a new park now and it’s nice. They’re catching up with the times now that Des Moines has the largest park in America,” Meyer said, referring to Lauridsen Skatepark in Iowa’s capital. “… I’ll take this any day” over the old park, he said.

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Cedar Rapids’ new park replaces the one built in 1999, with City Council member Dale Todd — then the parks commissioner under the city’s previous form of government — working with the community to champion its creation. He worked with state lawmakers to lobby for cities to be able to create this amenity in their own communities.

Taylor said involvement from the council, including Todd and council member Ashley Vanorny, and especially from the skaters, were key to shaping the new skatepark’s creation. He said city staff had monthly newsletter updates, an open house and other contacts with skaters to keep them informed of the timeline and to seek input on the orientation of the skatepark.

For now, Taylor said the community can still use the temporary Time Check Park equipment before the city uses it as a sort of “traveling skatepark” sometime later this year. And a larger destination skatepark remains in the plans as the city undergoes a process to re-imagine the greenway along the Cedar River, with public input opportunities coming this fall.

Flood Control Program Manager Rob Davis said this project has had the highest community engagement of any flood control system project. The approximately $750 million flood infrastructure is a long-term project, but “this is a real short-term impact for an amazing group of the community.”

Nate Sherwood, owner of skate shop Eduskate in NewBo, said he’s had many skaters from outside the area hanging out in his shop eagerly waiting for the new park to open.

“I'm extremely happy that everything came together,” Sherwood said. “It’s a state-of-the-art park.”

He said the concrete facility will better withstand the elements than the old park. He referenced the Arab proverb: Humans fear time, but time fears the pyramids.

“It's the difference between a steel pole barn and the Great Pyramids of Giza,” Sherwood said. “ … Time fears concrete skateparks.”

Taylor said crews will be installing a playground near the skatepark, along with trees and other landscaping in the coming weeks, to finish out the project.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the project is an example of public safety — in the form of flood protection — and a community amenity all in one.

“I’m proud of this highest-quality facility and I know it’s going to be one that the skate community as well as the community in general is going to enjoy and benefit from,” Pomeranz said.

At the city’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday at the park, Pomeranz said maybe someday he’d test out the facility — just not quite yet.

But Parks and Rec Director Taylor was eager to try. First he tested a skateboard out on the sidewalk, but eventually he “dropped in” himself with a move dubbed the “Hashim” shimmy — wiggling around on the skateboard to try to gain momentum.

.@CRparksDirector’s new move, created this morning at the new Riverside skatepark: The “Hashim” Shimmy! pic.twitter.com/DF6IRoVuG8

“I’m a skater now,” Taylor exclaimed after his attempt. “I officially skated the newest park. How about that?”

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