Building a bike park in Albany is back on the table for discussion.

After bikers were banned from Albany’s skatepark in 2003, there has been no public place for them to ride.

Councilor Bessie Johnson says that interest continues for a bike park, and she has asked the city’s parks and recreation commission to begin talks about building one next to the skatepark near Eleanor Hackleman Park.

About 60 bikers and family members attended the commission’s March 5 meeting. They expressed support and interest in the project, said parks Director Ed Hodney.

Another meeting is set for 6 p.m. April 8 at City Hall to appoint a steering committee. “This really isn’t a public meeting for public input,” Hodney said.

Rob Romancier, the city’s aquatics director, and Craig Carnagey, the parks and facilities manager, are in charge of getting the discussion started about what a park should look like, how big it should be and where to put it.

“The Hackleman area is really the default position,” Hodney said. “There are questions about what impact a bike park would have next to a skatepark, especially concerning parking and noise.”

He does not know what other sites might be available.

The city has no funds designated for a bike park. The skatepark, which opened in 1999, was constructed using donations from businesses, tax money and parks system development fees, and skaters contributed money as well.

Although bikers were prohibited from using the park when it opened, they continued to put pressure on the city council to allow them to do so on an experimental basis.

Bikes were not allowed because bike pegs and handle bars could put gouges in the skatepark surface and there was concern the bikers and skaters might not get along.

Bikers were permitted to use the skatepark for three months if they followed skatepark rules and covered or took off their bicycle pegs. At the end of three months, councilors banned bikers from the park on the grounds that they did not take off their pegs, they used the skatepark when they were not supposed to, and calls to the police department increased.

DH Reader Comments

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bmbrown wrote on Mar 18, 2008 4:39 PM: " You can go by the skate park on any given day and see bikers there, either riding in the skate park or just sitting talking to friends. I was not aware of the rules that stated no bikers were allowed to use the skate park. I have never seen any problems there. I've heard about the police being there on a few occassions. " buggy wrote on Mar 19, 2008 3:47 PM: " This whole situation is very difficult for both sides bikes & boarders and it would be great to have a place where the kids could saftely ride/jump their bikes and have the facility be under cover. When kids have no place to go they seem to find lmore ways to get in trouble. It also seems to come to mind that the skate park took donations from Albany's Bike N Hike store which doesn't sell skate board stuff so it would seem wrong that the bikes can't ride at some point an time. "

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