Milton Skate Park

Milton Way
Milton, WA

Submitted by: peter whitley

A public skate park located along a main thoroughfare that puts the skaters front-and-center.

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Why It Works

Though they are somewhat niche, skate parks serve a vital role for athletic youth. The skatepark at Milton, through its professional design that both challenges and encourages skaters, draws skateboarders from all over the west coast (and abroad). It was developed under a very limited budget, yet, by planning carefully, parks planners were able to create one of the most renowned skateboarding facilities in the nation.

A robust, supportive community has emerged around the park with constituents mostly at an age where civic involvement is the farthest thing from their mind.

What Makes Milton Skate Park a Great Place?

Unlike most skate parks, the park at Milton is adjacent to a main thoroughfare that receives lots of pedestrian traffic. While skateboarders are accustomed to being relegated to backwoods parks and alleyway loading docks, Milton put them front-and-center. Pedestrian traffic regularly stops for a bit at one of the benches to watch the skateboarding.

The skate park is largely self-regulating. That is, rather that parks maintenance crews cleaning up, it's often the skateboarders themselves.

The skate park is adjacent to a playground and wetlands that will soon have walkways and educational signage.

The park is a destination to many within the larger skateboarding community and frequently sees visitors from all over. In general, the facility is used regularly by people from within a 30-mile radius.

History & Background

The skateboarding facility was designed and built by Grindline, a Washington state based outfit that was partially involved with the creation of Burnside skate park in Portland, Oregon.

User Comments:

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12/10/04 Mark Vinet said:: I don't think I'd want to live in one of those nearby houses knowing how much noise this probably generates.
12/16/04 peter whitley said:: Mark, it's surprisingly quiet. Because the park is excavated and concrete, the sound of skateboards is about the same as a conversation between two people. During events there are cheers and such, but during normal days the park sounds about like a playground...laughing, people talking, and so on.

Above-ground, wooden ramp skateparks tend to make a bit more noise than the concrete variety. The ramps can sometimes amplify the sound of the skateboards. Concrete bowls, due to their very design, have noise abatement built in.
12/20/04 Scott Shinn said:: The Milton public skatepark is a success story about cooperation among citizens, skaters and parks officials. In a wide variety of public spaces throughout the nation, skateboarding features are rapidly becoming a hot topic for urban planning.

"Studies show that a skatepark has no more noise than the ambiant surrounding noises that exist in other parks and is not nearly as noisy as a baseball park. For more info on noise call us." -http://spausa.org/community_resources.html

Get more information about skatepark siting and design issues here: http://www.parents4sk8parks.org/Checklist.html

Thanks!
01/22/09 Nells Spieler said:: The only guy you can trust has honest info on skateboarding noise issue is ex pro skater Paul Van Orden. He is mad genius scientist researcher and an all around brilliant guy. I met him on a surfing trip to Africa a few years ago and e-mail him once in a while. He is one of the most insane yet brilliant dudes. The guy speaks multiple languages, surfs pretty good, knows more about birds and nature then any skateboarder I ever met. Enough BS-ing, here is a link found real quick doing a google. http://www.policygov.com/skateboardalliance/PDX_Noise_Report_5-2001.pdf I also found his contact info at the City of Portland as (503) 823-5829. He helped us a lot with issue here in Northern California.