Planning decision may pave way for skatepark closure

The Central Planning Authority has granted permission for the Black Pearl Skatepark and the neighbouring defunct water park to be subdivided from the adjacent car park and outdoor bar, potentially paving the way for the closure of the facility.

Surveyor Eric Cronier appeared on behalf of the developer before the planning board on 9 Nov. to elaborate on the application, which requested a two-lot subdivision to separate the parking area and Mike’s bar in Grand Harbour Commercial Centre from the skate and water parks.

According to the minutes of the meeting, which were recently published on the Department of Planning website, the CPA granted the application.

The minutes noted that Cronier said the skate-park operators would be given 30 days’ notice, as per the lease, and then it will close. In the meantime, users could continue to park in the neighbouring car park.

He said once the area was divided in two, the smaller parcel would be retained for parking, while the larger parcel, comprising the area where the water park and skatepark are currently located, will be combined with the neighbouring ‘Grand Harbour Commercial Centre and development land’ parcel and developed.

He told the planning board that the company that runs the skatepark – the Cayman Islands Skateboard Association – gets it for nothing and the park is not a viable business.

The minutes also noted that Cronier said his client plans to build a residential development and a planning application is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks.

When the Compass contacted Cronier, he referred us to the owners.

No sale of the Grand Harbour Commercial Centre, owned by the Bell family, has been publicly announced. The site has been up for sale since 2014.

The Compass has reached out to the Bell family and is awaiting a response.

The agenda and minutes of the CPA meeting list Foreshore Corporate Services Ltd. as the applicant, but when the Compass checked with the company, a division of the Ritch and Conolly law firm, we were told the application was not made by Foreshore and it had no knowledge of it.

Skatepark a mecca for young people

Michael Myles, who runs the non-profit Cayman Islands Skateboard Association which operates the skatepark, told the Compass he had not received any notice from the owners about a sale of the property or the potential closure of the park.

Myles has approached successive governments over the last decade to take over the 62,000-square-foot park, which he said is on a bucket list for skateboarders visiting Cayman.

The Black Pearl is the second biggest outdoor skatepark in the world. The largest is in China.

“The government doesn’t know what it has here,” Myles said, adding that, with skateboarding now being an Olympic sport, the park could be used as a training ground for the region and as a place that could develop local Olympians.

“We could be doing a lot of different activities there,” he added.

He said the park offers a safe, secure and supervised outlet for young people to expend their energy and spend their spare time, and it combats the boredom that many complain of.

The park first opened in 2005, but closed down two years later. However, kids continued to flock to the park and skate there. By the time Myles took over operation of the park in 2013, it had fallen into disrepair, was covered in graffiti and was a hangout for drug users and sellers.

He and a team of volunteers cleaned it up and reopened it to skaters, and the Skateboard Association has been hiring teenage skaters to pass on their skills to newer converts to the sport and to supervise the park during opening hours.

Myles said he had previously approached government to use the park as a rehabilitation and employment scheme for former prison inmates, who had been convicted of non-violent or non-child-related crimes, but that idea gained no traction.

It currently employs six young people part time at the park.

Since 2013, more than 8,000 people have used the park, Myles said.

Petition to keep park open

Concerns about the potential closure of the skatepark sparked a recent online petition, which has been signed by more than 5,700 people.

The park, which according to its website is the largest outdoor skate park in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world, has attracted big name skateboarders, such as Tony Hawk, who officially opened the park in 2005; Shaun White; and Bam Margera.

Rufus Davies, 19, who started the petition following rumours of the sale of the site and planned redevelopment, said its goal is that “the Black Pearl Skatepark remains untouched by overdevelopment”.

He told the Compass via email earlier this year, “Overdevelopment is one of Cayman’s most high-profile potential problems for the future of the island. However, through effective and considerate planning, sites of Caymanian culture and heritage can prosper alongside new builds.”

Davies, who skated at the park throughout his school days, and who is now a student in the UK, said, “In the best case, the park simply goes under new management and is revitalised with an involved team of publicity staff, program organiser(s) and maintenance. I might add, the petition looks to start open conversation with all stakeholders about the future of this national landmark.”

Ideally, Davies says, the park might be owned by government and looked after as a state-owned community park.

In the petition, he points out that the skatepark could be maintained by the new buyers “if it is in their interests to serve the community”.

He added, “The venture has full potential to revitalise the space and attract a healthy and welcoming community.”