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Forestville residents press county for long-term maintenance commitment as skate-park project advances
Summary
Forestville volunteers outlined a decade-long effort to build a community skate park and asked the Board to authorize Sonoma County Regional Parks to assume long-term maintenance; staff and supervisors agreed to return with cost estimates, maps of park deserts and options for sustainable operations.
Dozens of Forestville residents, parents and children packed the public-comment period of a county workshop on neighborhood parks on March 24 to press for a durable maintenance solution for the community's long-planned skate park. Speakers described more than a decade of volunteer fundraising and planning and asked the Board to designate Sonoma County Regional Parks as the long-term maintenance partner rather than leave the burden to a small nonprofit.
"Park maintenance should be the responsibility of a dedicated parks department, not a grassroots nonprofit," said Jackie Bridal (speaker 53), a Forestville resident and project organizer. Several young speakers and parents described travel times to the nearest skate facilities and urged local access for youth activities. A number of public commenters pointed to the county's existing West County maintenance hub at the El Molino campus and argued that regional parks are already well placed to maintain a small neighborhood site.
County staff from Regional Parks, the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District and Public Infrastructure outlined available grant programs (Ag & Open Space Community Spaces matching grants), a 10-minute-walk gap analysis, and several pipeline projects (Geyserville Community Plaza, Guerneville Plaza, Forestville Skate Spot). The presentations emphasized that Ag & Open Space grants commonly fund planning and construction but do not pay for ongoing operations and maintenance.
Supervisors and staff agreed on next steps: provide the Board with a narrower, actionable package—cost ranges for operations and maintenance, a heat map of park deserts and a short list of pipeline projects that staff and the community want prioritized. Several supervisors also asked staff to consider options tied to Measure M (parks funding), hotel-occupancy revenues, and district formation/Community Service Areas as possible long-term funding mechanisms. The Board requested a return briefing with estimated annual maintenance costs and options for delivering maintenance regionally or via dedicated districts.
