$2 million Iowa City skate park expansion will add beginner, intermediate space and pump track

The Iowa City corridor's only skate park is getting a multi-million makeover.

First opened in 2002, the park sits just off the banks of the Iowa River across from the University of Iowa's Mayflower Residence Hall. It has long been the gathering place for members of the skating community and has only grown in popularity in recent years, Iowa City Parks and Forestry Superintendent Tyler Baird said.

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Park will add introductory space, pump track informed by public input

As the skate park's popularity rises, the city and community are making an effort to improve the aging structure by adding beginner and intermediate-level tracks.

Preliminary designs for the $2 million renovation include a bigger skate park, featuring a bevy of new options, like tracks for bikers, scooters, rollerbladers and skateboarders of all skill levels. The plans also call for a spectator viewing area, something the current design sorely lacks.

"We're looking at some more gathering space type areas as well, places where communities can be fostered and created," Baird said.

The new park will incorporate a "pump track," a feature where bikers can pedal their bikes around a wavy, bendy pavement track. Baird said this would be among the first pavement pump tracks in the state. A dirt pump track was installed in Clinton in 2021, according to the DeWitt Observer .

The park will expand to the north to accommodate all the new features.

"We did get a lot of requests for a lot of different things and we can't provide every single element that people may want," Baird said. "But, we're trying to include as much diversity in our offerings from what we heard during that process so it has something, hopefully, for everyone, and so everyone's able to find the type of features they may like, especially in those intermediate and beginner categories that we didn't really have before."

The project will not include additional lighting, which some in the community had requested, but Baird hopes it can be added in the future.

The city hopes the renovations spark additional recreational programming, and cross-department brainstorming has already begun.

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Future park design informed by public input

Baird said regular skate park users have been asking for updates for several years.

The parks department held a pair of open houses and conducted an online survey to gather design concepts for the 22-year-old park. Baird said the city received "quite a bit of feedback."

"We heard a lot about (skaters) being a community, and wanting each different kind of skill level (represented)," Baird said. "They wanted to have an opportunity to support the others in the community but still have space for their needs as well."

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Wait for federal funding pausing project — for now

A project start date has yet to be established as the city awaits additional funding.

The city's application for a $200,000 Land and Water Conservation Grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources could help alleviate an estimated 10% of the city's $2 million burden. Grant recipients are expected to be revealed later this year.

The parks department plans to use the grant to fund some of the park's less commonly requested features. If Iowa City can't secure the grant, Baird said they may need to scale back its design or seek additional funding elsewhere.

Baird hopes the park renovations will inspire the skating and biking community.

"The more it's being used, the more people are loving it, the more value that it's providing the community," Baird said.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: $2 million Iowa City skate park expansion will add beginner, intermediate space and pump track