A few years ago the announcement of a Skate Park coming to Frisco took the city by storm. Residents were eager to hear more about it. Where? When? How big will it be?
Last weekend, Frisco officially opened the 74-acre Northeast Community Park and Skate Park at the intersections of Coit Road and Panther Creek Parkway. The new space features eight lighted multipurpose fields, two cricket pitches, two pavilions, a playground and a pond surrounded by a walking trail.
But the feature folks are flipping over most is the 47,000 square foot skate park. It’s the second largest skate park in the state of Texas, featuring multiple lines, rails, bowls, a half pipe, and a 16-foot concrete wave. For those of you that aren’t familiar with those terms or skating, let’s just say this park is a big deal. The Skate Park at Northeast Community Park caters to all types of ‘skaters’ – from those who use boards to others who prefer inline. Bikes and scooters are welcome, too.
Last weekend, city leaders and staff, residents and visitors marked the occasion with a ribbon cutting.
Growing our parks system is a priority for our growing community,” said Mayor Jeff Cheney. “Parks improve our quality of life and promote a healthy, active lifestyle. Our city is known for sports and entertainment, but we also want to be known for growing a premier park system. The addition of this unique park helps us achieve that goal.”
The price tag for Northeast Community Park & Skate Park is $17.5 million. The Frisco Community Development Corporation (FCDC), which is supported by a half cent sales tax, contributed $9.9 million. The city’s Parks and Recreation Board dedicated $5 million in impact fees to the project. Voter approved bonds made up the rest at $2.6 million.
A lot of thought and careful planning went into this project by the developers involved. The plan and design were influenced by residents, skating enthusiasts and other stakeholders involved in the process. The plan was presented to the Parks and Recreation Board and the Community Development Corporation and approved by both.
This is a top notch facility with unique features you can’t get anywhere else in Frisco,” said Wren Ovard, Chairman, FCDC. “People won’t need to travel outside of Frisco anymore to find a skate park or play cricket. So this park helps us do a better job of serving different segments of our growing populations, particularly teens.”
It has been designed for all levels of riders—from beginner to professional, with one-acre of custom designed terrain with three areas:
The Plaza
The Plaza is the length of the skate park with various features ending in a 16-foot concrete wave. Other features include:
A 16-foot wide custom fabricated, perforated metal barrier that transitions between the plaza and flow bowl areas.
- black granite capped ledges – flat
- bench seat ledges
- wedge-to-wedge
- stairs sets, banks, quarters, rails
- ledge and manual complexes
- curb cut
- bank-to-barrier
- volcano
Multi-Depth Flow Bowl
- About every height and transition possible from 5 ft to 9 ft depths
- 6 feet tall “tombstone” extension in the 8 ft deep bowl section
- 5 feet tall roll-in
- pump bump
- 15.5 feet tall over-vertical “wave” capsule
Pool
- 7 feet, 7.5 feet, 9.5 ft with 1.5 feet of vertical
- 3.5 feet waterfall between the shallow and deep ends
- pool coping and tile
The skate park is not supervised, and there are safety guidelines posted for the protection of the park and its visitors. The park is open from 8:oo am -10:oo pm, 7 days a week, which gives you plenty of opportunities for you to perfect your skill set.
The skate park provides a great opportunity to bring a lot of different generations together to recreate, learn and have fun,” said Shannon Keleher, Director of Parks and Recreation. “In fact, the first two people to use the skate park were six-year-old girls on scooters. It’s fun to see people of all ages interacting and learning from each other.”
Tennis, basketball and sand volleyball courts, as well as a ‘splash pad’, are planned for future phases of construction at Northeast Community Park.
This expansive outdoor recreation space gives the residents another form of entertainment that gets them outside and enjoying healthy activity.
