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Encinitas Parks Commission hears plea to keep Exposure Skate in city as permit and service costs rise
Summary
Exposure Skate organizers and dozens of community speakers told the Parks and Recreation Commission that rising permit and service fees have forced parts of the event’s youth programming to move and urged the city to revisit a prior MOU or find cost-sharing to keep the internationally known women’s skate event in Encinitas.
Exposure Skate, an international women’s skateboarding event long based in Encinitas, asked the Parks and Recreation Commission on Nov. 18 to help the nonprofit remain in the city by revisiting past cost-sharing arrangements and exploring a new collaboration with staff and City Council.
Amelia, who identified herself as an Olympian and Exposure organizer, told the commission Exposure has been based in Encinitas for about a decade and runs the world’s largest women’s skateboarding event along with year-round youth programming and scholarships. She said the event drew roughly 200 competitors this year from 22 countries and that Exposure’s livestream and media reach helped put Encinitas in front of a global audience. “EMT services alone are near $5,000,” she said, listing ambulance, security and higher hourly permit charges as major new costs that in recent years have forced some youth programs to relocate.
The request is framed as a practical budget question: Exposure said it previously operated under a memorandum of understanding with the city (2015–2018) that covered shared costs such as security, ambulance coverage, traffic control, trash pickup and notification to nearby residents. The organizer asked the commission to recommend that staff meet with Exposure to explore whether a renewed MOU, shared services, or other supports could keep the event and its free youth clinics in Encinitas. “We need support with these costs,” Amelia said, and proposed co-branding (“Exposure Encinitas”) and other ways the city could help amplify local economic and community benefits.
Speakers during the public-comment period reinforced the economic and civic case. Donette Corona, a longtime local restaurant employee, said the event provides vital off-season business and urged the commission: “Simply put, we cannot afford to lose them.” Local business owners reported sales spikes tied to the event, and athletes and advocates described Exposure’s role in mentoring young skaters, raising awareness and fundraising for the Community Resource Center and domestic-violence services.
Commissioners signaled support for further review but emphasized the city’s budget authority and the need for due diligence on fee increases. Chair Ross Ritter recommended Exposure present its request to City Council early in the budget cycle so councilors can consider any funding or MOU during budget deliberations. Commissioners agreed to draft a short memo recommending staff engage with Exposure and to bring draft language back for full commission review in January.
Next steps: the commission will prepare a memo to City Council recommending staff meet with Exposure to explore partnership and possible cost-sharing options; the commission will review and vote on the memo in January before sending it to Council. No funding or MOU was adopted at the meeting.
