Grass Valley council directs staff to proceed with Condon Skate Park build, allow only minor tweaks

The Grass Valley City Council directed city staff and the contracted designer-builder to move ahead with construction of a new Condon Skate Park while allowing only minor design adjustments that would not delay the project, council members said at a special meeting in City Hall Council Chambers focused on the skate park.

Council members and staff said the decision reflected technical findings from the contractor, community input, grant constraints and the desire to complete construction in a single season. City staff told the council the replacement design is funded by a $1.5 million grant; roughly $100,000 has been spent on design and preconstruction, leaving about $1.4 million for construction and related work.

City staff and Grindline Skateparks presented the project history and the final concept, and Grindline engineer Matt Fligge told the council that the existing concrete slabs at Condon Park are shifting and that repairs are likely to be temporary. "When a skate park is either near or at the end of its lifecycle, repairs are just that — repairs," Fligge said. He added, "most of us probably heard the term ‘lipstick on a pig,’ but…