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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.

Gabe Reynolds on a quarter-pipe ramp at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

Jack Kelley at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

Gabe Reynolds at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

Jack Kelley on a rail at the Whispering Pines skate park.

The improvised skate park in Whispering Pines.

Gabe Reynolds on a quarter-pipe ramp at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

In what could be a watershed decision for local skateboarders, an improvised skate park in Whispering Pines may soon become an official village amenity.

Skateboarders have spent the past few months assembling a makeshift park on concrete pads behind village hall, bringing grind boxes, quarter-pipe ramps and other handmade obstacles to the site. Village leaders are now considering a proposal that would make the park the first municipal skateboarding facility in Moore County history.

“Some residents took it upon themselves to take advantage of a flat area that didn’t have vehicle traffic in it, and a lot of people have enjoyed it,” Rich Lambdin, manager of the village, said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “As far as I was concerned, if we could look out back and see a whole bunch of kids using skateboards and scooters, I knew they weren’t somewhere else doing something that we wouldn’t want them doing.”

While researching the feasibility of a village-operated skate park, Lambdin found a North Carolina General Statute that “addresses and encourages local governments to create and put these kinds of facilities into place,” he said.

Any state municipality that wishes to establish an unsupervised skate park must first approve an ordinance that “incorporates the rules and regulations of how the park will be used,” according to Lambdin. To further mitigate liability, he said, a municipality must install signs displaying the rules and require users of the park to sign indemnity waivers.

“If we do all of the things that are in the General Statute — implement an ordinance, post the signage as required — then the General Statute makes our government municipality, as well as our employees and our agents, not liable for folks that could potentially be injured enjoying this activity,” said Lambdin, adding that the village is “following the state law as far as how to go about doing this.”

Jack Kelley at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

Whispering Pines is insured by the North Carolina League of Municipalities, which Lambdin said would charge an annual premium of only $317 to cover a small skate park. That increase would be a “drop in the bucket” compared with the village’s overall cost of insurance, he said.

Helmets and safety pads would be required at the park under the proposed ordinance, and use of the facility would be limited to residents of Whispering Pines. Lambdin said the village may charge a $5 fee to offset the cost of processing applications and to print stickers that skateboarders could affix to their decks or helmets showing that they are permitted to use the park.

“Anyone using the facility would have to demonstrate the sticker, which proves that you signed the agreement acknowledging the risks and that you’re a village resident,” Lambdin said. “That’s how this skate park has been proposed to council.”

Referencing skateboarding’s Olympic debut at the Tokyo games this past summer, Lambdin said the facility is not “intended to be a full-blown skate park or the try-outs for future Olympians.” Under the proposed ordinance, the site’s obstacles can be no taller than 3 feet and users would be prohibited from bringing in their own hurdles.

“This is not a platform for us to build an Olympic-size skateboard park,” Lambdin said. “That’s a conversation for a later day at another time.”

Several residents expressed support for the proposed ordinance during an informal public hearing on Tuesday.

Pat Stitch, who lives on Pine Ridge Drive with his wife and two young daughters, told the council that he has watched his girls “develop physically and emotionally (…) as a result of having access” to the ad hoc park. Sarah Frye, who moved to Spearhead Drive with her four sons in May, said the park was “fantastic,” and it “would be a shame for Whispering Pines to lose it.”

The improvised skate park in Whispering Pines.

Addressing the large audience of skate park proponents gathered at village hall, outgoing Councilman Bob Zschoche said Whispering Pines had “not seen as much interest in an athletic thing” in over a decade. He and Mayor Alexa Roberts both voted to adopt the ordinance presented by Lambdin, but they were overruled by council members Andy Conway, Glenn Bernhard and Pamela Harris, who all voted to postpone the discussion.

“Outsiders” are already congregating at the park, according to Harris. She said she spoke to “eight or nine skaters” at the site on Saturday, only one of whom lived in Whispering Pines.

“You know what made me walk down there to want to talk to them? Not a single one of them had a helmet on, knee pads or elbow pads. Not a single person that was skating there.” she said. “And we’re expecting them to do that on their own accord?”

She added: “Believe it or not, I was really mad as a mom who was really excited about the skate park because I wished it had been there for my son back in the day. I was like, ‘these kids are ruining it right off the bat.’ They want me to vote in favor of this and not a single one of them can bother to put on so much as a helmet?”

Despite Lambdin’s assurances, Bernhard contended that the park puts the village at “high risk of liability.”

“I think that we’ve been very lucky so far that we (have) not had any injuries out there,” he said. “It is a dangerous sport simply because of the nature of it.”

Findings from a 2019 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that skateboarding is less dangerous than other popular sports and recreational activities. Far more children and young adults visited emergency departments from 2010 to 2016 for injuries related to football, basketball, soccer or pedal cycling, according to the CDC.

“In skateboarding, you do everything you can to try to not get hurt,” Terry Grimble, founder of the nonprofit Friends of the Skateparks Foundation, said in a phone interview. “In other sports, you have an opponent that will benefit if you are hurt and out of the game or not playing to your fullest potential. In skateboarding, you don’t have an opponent. It’s you against the board.”

Lambdin said the North Carolina League of Municipalities could recall only two skate park-related lawsuits since the statute pertaining to skateboarding facilities was enacted in 2003. Both lawsuits involved children who suffered burn injuries on metal ramps, which can become scorchingly hot during the summer.

One of the lawsuits was filed by the parents of an 18-month old boy who fell while attempting to walk up a metal ramp at an Onslow County skate park in 2014. No such ramps will be included in the Whispering Pines park, Lambdin said.

Jack Kelley on a rail at the Whispering Pines skate park.

The action taken by the council on Tuesday temporarily prohibits skateboarding behind Village Hall. However, the ordinance establishing a skate park there could still be approved during a specially called meeting on Nov. 30.

Roberts has made no secret of her support for the proposal.

“There is a dire need (for skate parks) in this county and across the country — everywhere you look,” she said. “We should have skate parks. They are good, clean fun.”

Her comments were echoed by Grimble, who said “every community needs a skate park.”

“We need these facilities just like we need basketball courts and tennis courts and pickleball courts,” he said. “Just like baseball fields and soccer fields. They need to be everywhere. Honestly, there needs to be the same amount of skate parks as there are (venues) for those other activities.”

Moore County has never had a government-sanctioned skate park, and previous efforts to establish one have foundered.

Gabe Reynolds at the Whispering Pines skate park on Nov. 13, 2021.

Earlier this year, the Village of Pinehurst hired a consulting firm to gather public feedback on potential uses for West Pinehurst Park. Out of more than a dozen possible amenities listed in an online poll, a skateboarding facility was the runaway favorite among voters. Many people also expressed their desire to see a skate park built on the property during a pair of virtual workshops hosted by the firm.

Despite the high level of interest, a skate park was not included in the consultants’ final proposal for the site. 

Jack Kelley, a 15-year-old skateboarder from Southern Pines, launched a petition to build a local skate park in 2019. He collected hundreds of signatures, but the request never moved forward.

On Saturday, Kelley was skating with his friends behind village hall.

“I think this is what we needed, and I think it’s helping a lot of kids get out of the house and learn something new,” he said. “The skate scene is so much bigger now than it was two years ago, and it seems like more people are more open to the subject (of creating a park).”

Taylor Creech, a 40-year-old who grew up skateboarding in Texas, was also at the Whispering Pines park on Saturday.

“For a grassroots neighborhood park, this is great,” he said. “When I first started seeing folks arriving here and putting ramps out, I thought ‘that’s not going to last long.’ It’s neat that the community is open-minded enough to let the kids — and the old men — come out here and do this.”

Jaymie Baxley is an award-winning reporter covering public health, social issues and general news for The Pilot. He worked previously at The Robesonian in Lumberton and at The Daily Courier in Forest City.

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Building this is a fantastic idea. When my Son was big on skateboarding I looked into what it would take to build a skate park. At the time the liability insurance would have been astronomical to a private owner and there wasn't a lot of support for this kind of thing back then either. It's great to see the focus on our kids, that wasn't' around 25 years ago.

A private skate park would be a great business project for Christian home schoolers. They are mature and generally a few years ahead of their peers in government schools. Their flexible schedule would be ideal. Build this on private land in the county to minimize government meddling. Make it a world-class facility like the one in Apex. See The Farm in nearby Eldorado for an example of an excellent private outdoor sporting facility. I’d be happy to advise Christian home school teenagers interested in starting this business. I can be easily found through my business, AeroSouth.

So users would have to prove that they are Christians in order to pay and use your skate park? No Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Rastafarians, Agnostics, Atheists, allowed? Hence the need to make it a private skate park.

Just another example of Kent proposing actions specifically designed to further fracture society as best he can. What a miserable excuse of a human being is he.

I'd still like to see him buy a desert island and create Kentlandia, where he can write its Constitution so as to limit settlers to being the "right sort." Right, Kent? I'll even contribute a few shekels to help get your project going.

People, why all the teeth gnashing and speculation? Take the short drive up to Apex and look at one of the best skate parks in the Southeast, within walking distance of one of the best private schools in the state and the popular downtown area. Apex’s skate park was built largely with private money. Why doesn’t some smart young person see this as a business opportunity? Build a private park and charge $5 per day to use it. Why must such things be taxpayer funded? Private sector businesses are always less expensive and better run than anything the government might do. Add a nice mini-golf course and it would be a mecca for all ages. Why don’t we have mini-golf here? Seems very odd given the history of golf in our area. We also lack an indoor roller rink, a great place for young people to meet without a dumb phone in their hands all the time.

Kent is often bragging what a great entrepreneur he is. So go create these additions to our area. What's stopping you? I'm sure you can tap into your huge list of radical libertarians, anarcho-christians, christian fundamentalists, and maybe even bring this to your leader (DJT) and get him involved too. They should take care of your capital needs.

JT you love to attack and slander people. What am outstanding citizen. We the People salute you.

Mathew, that's all you do here. Slander people you don't even know. You've lived here, what, 3 months and you think you know everything that's going on? That was always Trump's ploy, attack, and demeane to discredit people who didn't' think like him. It's rude and childish to hide behind the anonymity of a comment section, I doubt you would say these things to people's faces. How about some real conversation without trying to cut people off with sound bites and snippets?

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Comments that violate any of the rules above are subject to removal by staff.

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