Menifee to re-open skate park with minor improvements

The Audie Murphy Ranch Skate Park, shown here just prior to completion in 2014, was approved to re-open later this month. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

The Menifee City Council on Wednesday voted 3-2 against a series of proposals that could've cost the City as much as $251,000 in the next five months alone to supervise the Audie Murphy Ranch Sports Park. But in the same motion, council members approved re-opening the park -- probably before the end of the month.

The skate park has been closed since the council voted 4-1 on Nov. 16 to temporarily close it to address concerns from Audie Murphy Ranch residents about the presence of drugs, alcohol and rowdy skaters who race cars and leave trash in local streets. Most of the complaints seemed to concern not local children or teens, but young adults who travel to Menifee from outside the area.

The security improvements approved by the council that night will be made before the park re-opens. Community Services Director Robert Lennox told council members Wednesday night that delays in bidding, requisitions and installation of equipment have kept the park from being ready in the two months that was originally estimated. Although none of those improvements have been made since then, Lennox estimates they will be made in time for the skate park to re-open in late February.

The improvements approved back in November include the following:

-- 133 feet of folded steel security fence, closing off the end of the Gallup Court cul-de-sac from the park (see red arrow above).

-- Three 6-foot maintenance access gates in the fence at Gallup Court.

-- 50 feet of folded steel security fence, closing off the end of the Wide Plains Court cul-de-sac from the park.

-- One 6-foot maintenance access gate in the fence at Wide Plains Court.

-- 500 square feet of landscape conversion, designed to provide ground cover that will discourage foot traffic adjacent to the park.

-- Four motion sensor infrared security lights.

-- A remote access loud speaker with 180-degree cameras.

Total cost of the improvements reported during the November meeting was listed at $34,850. At that time, council members agreed to consider, after further research by staff, additional security enhancements to provide on-site security.

The problem: Cost. That was a factor in the decision of council members by a narrow margin Wednesday to re-open the park with only the previously approved improvements and continue to monitor the situation.

Following direction from the council back in November, Lennox's proposal Wednesday night for on-site security included the following options:

-- Enter into a contract with Action Park Alliance, which manages skate parks in Fontana, Palm Springs and elsewhere, to supervise the facility on site. That contract would cost $92,750 for the remainder of the fiscal year and $221,450 for the next fiscal year. Approval of that option would also require a one-time cost of $100,000 to build a skate park attendant building.

-- Approve the hiring of two full-time park rangers, whose duties would include supervising not only the skate park, but all City parks west of Interstate 215. The estimated cost was $58,985 for the remainder of the fiscal year and more than $100,000 per year after that.

While acknowledging the need to re-open the skate park as a recreational facility for local youth, council members were concerned about cost because of ongoing budget challenges, as well possible liability regarding the park ranger problem.

Council member John Denver's original response to a presentation from Action Park Alliance representatives was to consider the extra expense.

"I think we should go along with these gentlemen and see how it goes," Denver said. "I'm not in favor of hiring more employees (park rangers) who also supervise the other parks. We need somebody there for this park or tear the park out."

Council member Matt Liesemeyer, whose council district includes the park, said he believed the cost for that contract was prohibitive.

"We'd be spending a lot of money to let an outside business run the park," he said. "That's not a business model I would support. I can't believe this is the only option we have."

Sobek agreed with Liesemeyer, saying the fact most of the cost would come from the City's reserve fund would be a huge hit to "our fund for a rainy day."

After considerable discussion, Liesemeyer made a motion to approve the park ranger program as the most affordable option and re-open the park as soon as possible. Sobek seconded. However, as allowed by Robert's Rules of Order, Mayor Neil Winter made a substitute motion (and got a second from council member Greg August) to re-open the park as soon as possible with only the previously approved equipment upgrades. Therefore, that motion replaced the original motion as the motion on the floor.

With Winter and August voting for the substitute motion and Liesemeyer and Sobek against it, the deciding vote turned out to be that of Denver, who went along with the mayor's motion.

Liesemeyer -- visibly upset that a promise he had made to get the park re-opened in two months had already been delayed -- asked Denver why, if he had originally supported the more expensive option, he had ultimately voted to do nothing in addition to the November approval.

"I predict the same problems will resume and we'll be back here again, when we can revisit the issue," Denver said.

After the meeting, Denver said that because he didn't get support for his original backing of the Action Park Alliance proposal, he believed it was best to adopt neither. His primary concern was that, depending upon the time spent by the park rangers at the skate park, the City could be liable for incidents that occurred there with that option.

The reason the park ranger proposal was to include supervision of all west-side parks was for just that reason -- to prevent the possibility of the City being liable for a park that is supervised on a regular basis by a city employee.

"You have two choices to avoid liability," said city attorney Jeffrey Melching. "One, you can ensure that all skaters wear helmet, elbow pads and knee pads. Two, you can post signage to that effect for a park that is not supervised on a regular basis. It someone can claim the City is supervising the park on a regular basis, the liability could go to the City."

Menifee 24/7 will continue to follow this story and post updates regarding when the skate park will re-open.