New state-of-the-art skate park to be developed at Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park
Montgomery Parks is hosting an in-person and online community meeting to brainstorm design ideas for a new skate park to be built at Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park in Clarksburg. It will be the first of five skate parks built in Montgomery Parks in the coming years. At the meeting, Montgomery Parks planners, and representatives from the private skate park design firm Spohn Ranch will take ideas from the public about the design of the skate park. Spohn Ranch a California-based firm well-known in the skating community for its unique and contemporary skate park designs.
What: Skate Park Design Meeting
When: Saturday, October 14, 2023
1:00-3:00 p.m.
Where: Hallie Wells Middle School Cafeteria
11701 Little Seneca Pkwy, Clarksburg, MD, 20871
or online: MoCoParks.org/OHWSkateZoom
Details: Registration is optional but encouraged, planners are asking interested parties to fill out this form to register and receive future updates. “Skate parks offer a place for community and activity that’s popular, especially with teens and younger adults,” said Montgomery Parks Engineer, Brian Lewandowski. “We hope everyone interested in skating or using this new skate park will contribute their ideas to the design process.” The area of the new Ovid Hazen Wells skate park will be 14,000—15,000 square feet, about the same area as three basketball courts. It will be designed for use by skateboarders, in-line and roller skaters, and other non-motorized, wheeled forms of recreation.
The meeting is the latest step in the Montgomery Parks Skate Park study, an extensive outreach effort to the local skateboarding community. Since July, Parks staff have contacted nearly 1,000 skaters via surveys, online, and at in-person events to determine what features they want in the new parks. The other new skate parks are planned for:
- Wheaton Regional Park
- Long Branch Local Park in Silver Spring
- Newport Mill Local Park in Wheaton
- South Germantown Recreational Park
Montgomery Parks currently operates three skate parks:
Construction on Ovid Hazen Wells Skate Park is expected to begin in the summer of 2024. Featured photo shows Olney Manor Skate Park