SPRING – A new skate park and park without limits in Spring are one step closer to becoming a reality.
Houston City Council has approved the Greenspoint Redevelopment Authority's capital improvement plan budget, which includes developing a 10-acre north Houston site into a world-class skate park to complement downtown's Lee and Joe Jamail Skate Park, and a "park without limits" to accommodate children with special needs.
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"This project will help fill a recreational void in the Greenspoint area, allowing children to play close to home," said Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
The Spring skate park's unique design includes a world-class competition-scale Texas bowl featuring a full pipe, 12-foot vertical ramp, 10-foot bowl, banked walls and speed hips, plus a couple of backyard-style pools and three beginner/intermediate/advanced flow bowls. Another section will have ledges, rails, benches, banks, quarter pipes and stair obstacles, providing fun and creative challenge for skaters of all levels and interests.
The park without limits will be named Dylan's Park after a child who was severely injured, and later died, from child abuse. Dylan's Park will have areas for children who are vision-impaired, hearing impaired, autistic or wheelchair-bound.
"Families with special needs children need these kinds of parks," said Marti Boone, director of Be An Angel, which serves special needs children throughout the region.
"We could even close off the skate park for a couple of hours a week for wheelchair games, effectively making the entire facility a park without limits," said Greenspoint Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Sally Bradford.
Construction for the facility is expected to begin by the end of the year. Opening is scheduled for Spring 2014.