The fence around the old park was open on the weekend. Work starts on the new pool complex this weekhence the fenced off area.

The green Room has had survey forms since xmas, the forms were to decide whether the bowl or street would be stage 1. I beleive that it was 70/30 for the bowl to be 1st. these forms have been passed to the council.

Has not been a meeting yet this year, hopefully it will happen soon and there are no objections, which should see a feb/march start on the new park along with the Barwon Heads park.

sick... waxheads like their concrete waves

Yes they do Mr Peacock

do you have any plans that is possibal to post fletch?

As soon as i do I will

Some very dissapointing news over the w/e.

meetings have been held and some of the original skaters that went to the 1st meeting where not informed.

I was 1 of these and am a fairly pissed off as a new design has been requested.

Instead of the progeressive and challenging original bowl design by Convic, the council now want to get plans for a basic street section and small "peanut or kidney". this is to apparently satify the kids who used the existing peice of shit park.

It shits me to tears that councils cannot see the benifits of a modern progressive park that will cater for a wide variety of skating styles and competency levels rather than just putting in a facility the deem adequate.

shit man, that really sucks. i was actually looking forward to the bowl. but i guess the peanut bowl could be funner for the younger guys. what a shame

Letters have been written to Councilor Jan Farrell and a few others in the youth developement area, hopefully we can get this back on the progressive track and get a good quality bowl in Greater geelong as every other park is street based.

Do you need some more letters of support?

Hey Potty, The issue is OG will get a park as funds, site etc have all been approved. the councillors involved just want a park so they can say we got the park for OG built.

I get the feeling one of the other main skaters they are talking to just wants a park regardless of design, this will just add another destination to the Bellarine skate comps series a local surf shop runs.

I want this park to be the best design possible so any letters of support for a progressive function design that will stand the test of time would be cool.

Send them to: 'councillor@geelongcity.vic.gov.au' addressed to Jan Farrell RE Ocean Grove Skatepark.

this is what I wrote.

Dear Jan,

I am writing to you wearing a number of hats, as a resident and ratepayer of Ocean Grove, as a father of 2 boys 16 & 12 who both skateboard and surf and finally as a 47 year old surfer and skateboarder.

I started skateboarding in 1973 and was sponsored during the late 70's, and competed all around Australia. I have never lost my passion for skateboarding and this has carried over to my sons.

As a family we moved from Melbourne to Ocean Grove in 2003 and have thoroughly enjoyed the "Sea change". Only One thing's been missing, a good local skate park. We still travel to Melbourne once a week to skate the many and varied Skate parks all over the greater suburban area, Newport, Frankston, Knox, Epping, Dear Park, Northcote, Pt Cook, Ringwood and many of the other smaller parks. We also skate on weeknights during daylight saving at Waurn Ponds, Torquay and Lorne skateparks.

I was involved in the initial meeting to discuss the new Ocean Grove Park, held at the Surfside Centre last Nov. Convic were given some design parameters to work with and where instructed to come back with a 2 stage plan, a bowl area and a street area. Based on the budget they were given ($130k). The bowl design they returned with was extremely accessible and challenging to all levels of skater from beginner to advanced as was the street area. From the surveys conducted by the Green Room(Surfshop in Ocean Grove) it appeared that the larger percentage of skaters in the area preferred the bowl as the 1st stage.

I now believe a new combination bowl / street design has been requested. This is to accommodate the young skaters who used the existing steel pre fab park. To spend the $130k on a little bit of both style park is not creating a facility that will allow the local skaters to progress. The street style skaters will learn their moves in limited terrain provided and look for more challenges, this will lead them in search urban terrain. What I'm trying to say is a compromise park will not keep them progressing and they will return to the streets, shopping Centres and schools in search of stair sets and handrails etc. The bowl or surfing style skaters will not be challenged by a shallow relaxed bowl and will move onto other parks or do something else.

No matter what style of skateboarding you look at, it is not like any other sport. Skating is about learning new trick and moves and then progressing them to bigger or to more difficult terrain, doing them faster and longer, there are no rules in skateboarding, it is all about challenging yourself and the terrain, it is an endless progression. You will see experienced and very skilful skaters hoot and encourage beginners as they progress with a new move or take one they can already do to a new obstacle.

A brief history of skateboarding goes something like this. In the 60's surfers bolted wheels to pieces of timber so they could surf on the sidewalks, they then took them to banked concrete areas to replicate waves, then into empty swimming pools, this terrain was then incorporated into the 1st skateparks in the 70's. 1/2 pipes came next, then as the ramps and parks where closed in the 80's skaters took all the tricks they had learnt to the streets and the urban landscape. 1/2 pipe manoeuvres where now done down the stairway handrails, they used loading bays to get air etc. Now jump forward to the late 90's and councils and property owners started protecting their urban environment from skateboarders. The next step was the reintroduction of purpose built skateparks. The street skaters are now taking their tricks onto the transitional curves of the bowls and into another phase. Two good DVD's which cover this are "Dogtown & Z boys" a documentary by Stacy Peralta and "Tic Tac to heel Flip - the history of Australian skateboarding" produced by Globe

If you look at most, if not all the other coastal skateparks, they all have bowls. Some examples are Lorne. Torquay, Rye, Frankston. The southern end of the Mornington Peninsula is very similar to the Bellarine Peninsula, in that is has bay side townships, ocean beach and land locked townships and most importantly, it has a very well planned number of parks. Rye was the 1st with a state of the art bowl which is now 3 years old and still recognised as one of the best bowls in Victoria. Rosebud has street plaza style park, Sorrento has a tradition street style park and there is a less progressive bowl in Pearsedale. Within a similar distance, say, from Portarlington to Ocean Grove they have catered for all styles of skateboarding and also have 2 BMX suitable parks. I cannot say the same about Our region.

I would like to make comment on the skate park facilities within the City of Greater Geelong region. Most of the existing skateparks are largely, if not all based around street style skateboarding. Leopold as the newest park has no bowl, Clifton springs no bowl, Portarlington has a closed in 1/2 pipe with 2 corners, still not a bowl, Pt Lonsdale no bowl. Corio is one of the oldest parks in Victoria and the only true bowls in the Geelong region. Waurn Ponds has the antiquated and poorly designed snake run, which I have to add is very popular with BMX riders, this is largely due to the fact that there are no bowls. A well designed bowl is very functional for both skaters and BMX riders. Beginners can learn their moves in the bottom and slowly progress to the top and then the next step is out of the top.

Unlike the proposed Barwon Heads, it appears that the New Ocean Grove park is going to be what council believes to be suitable. Barwon Heads was a community driven development and they listened to skaters and BMX ridders, not just locals, but skaters and BMXers from the greater Geelong area and will get a very accessible and progressive park which will stand the test of time.

I am very proud and feel privileged to live in Ocean Grove and do not want to see a substantial amount of taxpayers money spent on a park that will very quickly be redundant. It is hard enough to get parks built, what, with all the objectors and so forth, so it is imperative that the ones that do get built are progressive and will stand the test of time.

I hope what I have written makes some sense in the greater scheme of things.

Regards,

Paul Fletcher.

I got a reply to the above. once again it appears a council will do what it feels is best for its constituants, in this case opt for a mickey mouse facility rather than something progressive.

Heres the reply

Hi Paul,

Thank you for taking the time to send me your views on the Ocean Grove skate park design.

While I acknowledge your expertise in this area, I think that your expectations may be a little misguided. If that was due to a lack of communication by Council I apologise.

It was never Council's intention to cater to expert or advanced skaters at Shell Road - the facility was always going to be pitched at the younger and/or beginner and intermediate skaters in Ocean Grove. The consulation process was always focussed on gaining innovative ideas around that premise. The new skate park in Barwon Heads is being designed with a bowl and the regional facility at Waurn Ponds also caters to advanced skaters. There was never any intention to replicate that kind of facility in Ocean Grove. In fact the younger skaters were quite vocal in their support of the street elements of the proposed design.

The facility is a replacement for the old skate park which was removed when construction began on the Bellarine Aquatic Centre. It is one of many recreational facilities on the Shell Road reserve. In the future it is hoped that improved football/cricket/soccer and netball facilities will also be added. Also a playground and BBQ area.

Cheers,
Jan

thats stupid.

"the facility was always going to be pitched at the younger and/or beginner and intermediate skaters"

if people are beginnings they can skate leopold or norlane or even pt lonsdale where everything is about 10cm.

and for the intermediater skaters they could of built the waterfront park which was ment to get built about 2 years ago or something.

"The new skate park in Barwon Heads is being designed with a bowl "

so barwon heads is still getting done? thats good but when? it was ment to be done about 4 months ago.

i really hate the council sometimes!

Dean, Send them emails It appears they will build the OG park based upon what a small group of 8 yr olds want.
it will be waste of $130k

Whoops here the email addy
'councillor@geelongcity.vic.gov.au'

just read through this page, that sucks dude. Im from newcastle and we dont have one good skate park so i understand what your saying.
Im thinking there going to keep it simple as they have no intentions of actaully completing a stage 2 if it was to be built.


imagine a skater run council.....