MONA VALE SKATE PARK
WORKING GROUP
MEETING NOTES
6th August 2015
Mona Vale Memorial Hall, Meeting Room: 4.30pm – 6pm
Attendance
Community members: Amanda Lockton, Cameron Sparks, Shane Azar, Laurie
Allison, Darren Kaehne, Cade Cooper, Rebeka Massa, Paul Tosi, James Flew,
Lachlan Rose, Reuben Riegler
Convic Designs (Appointed Designer): Bryce Hinton and Simon Bogalo
Staff: Les Munn (Manager Reserves and Recreation), David Bremner (Community
Engagement Officer), Leeanne Kelly (Social Planning & Community Development
Coordinator), Josh Field (Youth & Families Development Coordinator)
Minuted by: Jessica Brealey (Reserves and Recreation Officer)
Items for discussion
 Welcome
 Presentation of draft concept design
 Questions and comments of draft concept design
 Next steps & next meeting
Welcome
Les welcomed the Working Group (WG) and Convic designers to the meeting, and provided
an update of the current stage of the project. Convic have provided Council with a draft
concept design for the new skate park facility developed after initial feedback from the WG,
from the July meeting which they attended. The intention of the meeting is to discuss the draft
concept design with the designers and provide an opportunity for questions or comments that
they will take away to create the final design.
Page 1 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Presentation of draft concept design – Convic Designs
Bryce Hinton (Convic Designs) presented the draft concept design to the WG, explaining the
various features, including chosen colour palette, materials and inspirations. Bryce conveyed
how Convic recognised the feedback from the WG and explained processes they undertook to
prepare the draft design.
Some overall features of the draft design include:
Site Context and Circulation – Kitchener Park is a recreational precinct, the skate park will tie
in and add to the profile of Mona Vale Village. The draft design draws on the natural features
of Kitchener Park including mature trees and creek line in conjunction with the existing
sporting facilities such as tennis courts and sports grounds. Pedestrian, vehicle and bicycle
access and traffic through the precinct has been assessed and functionality is incorporated
into the design.
Existing Vegetation – The precinct has a large number of mature trees, the design requires
removal of some trees to increase safety for users and passive surveillance. Pruning and
clearing will occur throughout the area but predominately along the creek line. There will also
be some landscaping work to the garden bed adjacent to Pittwater Road.
Climate factors – The site is exposed during strong south-easterly winds, which can blow
rubbish and vegetation litter onto the skate park, hindering use, it is intended that the large
trees will provide a natural protection and will be investigated further.
Drainage – It is recognised that there are drainage issues at the southern end of the site, the
design allows for overland flow via a natural path so that no pooling occurs on the skate able
surfaces of the park in that area.
Mona Vale Ocean Pools Concept – the design is
intended to be uniquely Mona Vale, rather than too
standardized. The basis of the concept is that the
park will comprise of a number of ‘skate pools’
which combined create a spacious yet connected
skate park. The varying pools accommodate
different skill levels, connected by skateable
linkages. Landscaping throughout the site is also
inspired from rock platforms from ocean pools
Skateable Furniture – The WG stressed the
importance of making as many aspects as possible of the site ‘skateable’. The design
incorporates skateable furniture throughout, with some pieces
proposed to be made from recycled jetty timber.
Colour Palette – The colour palette is drawn from the
surrounding natural environment of Mona Vale Ocean Pools,
including dark and light greys, browns, blues and greens. This
scheme is replicated in the planting palette also.
Simon Bogalo (Convic, Landscape Architect) then talked through each skate aspect in the
park in detail. He explained the vision Convic had when trying to create the usability of multiple
areas at the one time, which gives the design a more street-scape focus. The inclusion of
simple features adds to the overall strength of the park. Some creative features have been
added for discussion including a mini vert wall on the mini bowl, along with many features
inspired by street-league design. The design moves away from the large fully concreted skate
park approach in order to create different spaces that are all independently skateable,
Page 2 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
reducing conflict and increasing how many people can use the park at one time. The design
has a heavy street focus as has been discussed with the WG so far.
Landscape elements discussed included: seating in gravel; refuge area; entry plaza; entry
sign; rubbish bins; shade structure; gravel access path and garden beds.
Skate obstacles in the draft concept design discussed by the WG included: roll in channel gap;
750h quarter pipe; low hubbas; down/out rail; camel hump; flat bar; manual pad; spine gap;
1200h quarter pipe; hubbas; hand rail; 6 stair set; 1200h mini bowl; corner vert wall; kerb on
shallow bank; manual pad/ledge; coffin ledge; kinked flat bar; slappy kerb; jersey corner;
kicker to manual pad; a-frame rail; kicker to kicker with hubba; 1200h quarter pipe into mellow
quarter pipe; relocated vert ramp; skateable seats;
Initial Feedback on Draft Concept Design
Convic designers and Council staff facilitated a discussion about aspects of the draft concept
design using plans, 3D sketches and a live 3D model of the design. WG members participated
in a discussion, noted comments on stickies and plans and also filled in feedback forms on the
draft concept design. Each of these inputs will inform amendments to the design. Convic
explained to the WG that the inclusion of more obstacles and concrete spaces is costly,
compared to landscaping and designing the park is a little like tetris, each change to the
design will have flow-on effects to other obstacles and to the overall cost of the park. All input
from the WG will be considered.
General themes/feedback discussed:
 Please ensure there is no gravel in or near the skate park or other mulch or garden
material that could easily cause a skating hazard
 Carefully consider materials at the entrance and surrounding the park – are there other
options than grass, gardens or other landscaping? What impact do materials have on
cost?
 The design process involves push and pull – when one obstacle is added or removed it
may impact on the layout of other obstacles.
 The skate park includes rest areas, access paths, landscaping, shade and other
facilities that are key parts of the design – the project budget must also include these
features.
 Remove unnecessary landscaping/ shrubbery that may cause maintenance issues
 What is the best depth and format of the mini-bowl? Should it remain 1200H or be
increased to 1500H? How does that impact on the skateability of that part of the park?
The vert ramp element in mini-bowl may be too excessive, remove the hole in vert
ramp extension, or remove all together, change to a taco? Or bring it down and extend
it.
 Getting the height and length of obstacles right is really important to how skateable the
skate park is!
 Could Convic provide better annotations of obstacle dimensions and/or references to
other parks with similar dimensioned obstacles in the revised concept plan?
 Camel humps – skateable for all abilities
 Handrail off 3 stair
 Longer stairs rather than height
 How much is too much to spend restoring and/or relocating the vert ramp? The cost of
restoring and relocating the vert ramp is still being investigated
 Round rails would be preferred where possible throughout the skake park
 Obstacles 18, 19 & 20 handrails and hubbers are too low
 Remove the least preferred obstacles to allow for others to be added
 Cherrybrook bowl is the perfect size, but possibly with some small changes to make it
unique to Mona Vale.
Page 3 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Page 4 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Page 5 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Next Steps
Convic will take the input from the WG and bring a revised concept design to the next meeting.
After the next meeting the concept design will be made available on Council’s website via
www.pittwater.nsw.gov.au/yoursay
Next meeting is Thursday 3rd September at 4.30pm
Page 6 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Page 7 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015
Page 8 – Mona Vale Skate Park Working Group Meeting Notes – 6 August 2015