Currently - Casselberry IS the Skatepark

As summer break looms before us, we are acutely aware of this simple fact:

If your city has no skatepark, the city is the skatepark.

We've already been hearing that citizens and business owners are calling the Casselberry Police Department to report skateboarders for skating in places they deem to be "off-limits".



Once school is out, it wont be long before its happening all throughout the day across Casselberry.

We know that the kids are simply looking for a good time, being active and are being, well... kids!

Recognizing this fact, we're encouraging everyone to be cautious as they motor through the neighborhoods.

Until we provide a skatepark where the kids have a safe place to go, its our responsibility as a community to keep them safe.

If you would like a bumper sticker for your car - send us an email or contact us through the Facebook Page:  SKATE 32707 - Support A Skatepark In Casselberry

Casselton Drive Skate Spot - Casselberry, Florida

Soon you'll be able to see plans for the skate spot that will be situated in a linear park that is slated to be constructed along Casselton Drive just south of the landmark water tower pictured above.

The skate spot will be a first step in a positive direction towards providing skateboarding equal access to recreation facilities in the City of Casselberry.

Design work for the spot is being completed by Team Pain Skateparks, so we're stoked to see what they come up with for the project.

We hope that this will be the first of several skate spots that will link our neighborhoods with the main skatepark that we are is still working hard to deliver.

Community support continues to grow as the number of petition signatures increase and yard signs continue to spring up in front of residences across town.

Stay up to date with meeting announcements through our Facebook page:  SKATE 32707 - Support a Skatepark in Casselberry. 

Help Get Casselberry's Youth Off The Streets & Into A Park

There are spots all around Casselberry where many of our kids try to find brief moments of joy before being told to move along or face consequences.

Some of our neighborhood parks specifically forbid skateboarding.

Casselberry Police officers push the "problem" of skateboarders from place to place, responding to calls from residents and business owners who see them as a "problem" that requires a law enforcement response.

Here is what we see:

Sons, brothers, grandkids, nephews, students, neighbors...

They are on the streets because we as a community have failed them.  We've failed to grow as a society.  We've failed to recognize that skateboarding has grown in popularity and is as mainstream as soccer, basketball or baseball. 

We haven't built the required park that would solve the "problem" that is being addressed.

Its 2016 - How much longer will we delay? 

Casselberry must grow and deliver a safe place for our youth.  Skateboarding is growing.  It continues to see more participation as traditional team sports participation declines.

We need to embrace our youth, not relegate them to the streets where they are more at risk for injury and the target of negative consequences for merely being active and adventurous kids that love a sport.

Please join us in growing as a community by supporting the construction of a skatepark. 

Support a Skatepark in Casselberry

We are pushing for a full neighborhood skatepark in Casselberry & have been the single biggest and most visible community movement in the city over the past year.

Rather than address the need for a community skatepark, our city's leaders have punted on the project by calling for a Parks Master Plan after getting caught citing one for being the reason no action had been taken during the 2016 Budget Workshop.

Fact:  There has been NO Parks Master Plan in place in the past and it has not stopped recreation planning and development.

A single consultant just proposed providing a study that will lead to a Parks Master Plan for Casselberry.  At what cost?  $74,000.00

That is funding that could otherwise be spent on current recreation needs in our city.

Despite our dismay, we plan to participate in this process and send the clear and convincing message that we have for the past year; Casselberry has a demonstrated need for a modern recreation facility in the form of a skatepark.

In order to continue to attract younger families and have them become residents, we need to provide the recreation they are looking for when they are ready to put down roots.

Stay tuned for developments like community workshops and surveys that will be part of this process.

In the short term, a step towards improving our city has been made by including a skate spot in the Casselton Drive improvement project.  A public input session should take place to see the design of it in early June.

We will update our Facebook Page: Skate 32707 - Support a Skatepark in Casselberry with a date, time and location as soon as it is known.

Attendance is important, as a small group in the area has already surfaced to try and prevent it, citing problems in their community that are totally unrelated to skateboarding as a reason to oppose the skate spot.  We know better and have the facts to support it.

The City Commission needs to hear from all of us that support a vibrant and active community so that they will continue to support the project.

Stay engaged, work hard to spread the word and make certain that you attend any and all meetings that are announced.

Skatepark Events & Community Pride

No different than jazz concerts or art events in Lake Concord Park, the Casselberry Skatepark will also be a venue for events that will be a source of community pride.

Families from across the state, as well as out of state participants will travel to Casselberry if our skatepark is designed and built by professionals

Take a peek at what a family friendly event looked like at the New Smyrna Beach Skatepark last weekend.

Skaters from pre-teen to over 50 years old competed to raise money for Grind For Life, a charity that provides financial assistance to cancer patients when treatment requires them to travel to another city for specialized care.

The Casselberry Skatepark will be a valuable asset to our town.  Your support is needed to continue moving it towards completion.

Call or write the City Commission and voice your support:  commission@casselberry.org

Teamwork makes the dream work!  

Skatepark Economics 101

Casselberry is in the throws of a revitalization effort that has been decades in the making.  Much of the recent growth in the city has been the addition of more housing, both mutli-family and single family residential.  There is promise for more retail and dining, yet the community is left longing for more.

Zephyrhills Recognized The Need For A Community Skatepark and Took Action

Public works projects are focused on the curb appeal, spending loads of cash on "complete street" projects, replete with enhanced street lighting, landscaping and brick intersections.

In order that the City of Casselberry reach its full potential to be a "Great Place to Live, Work and Play" there needs to be a shift in focus on placemaking that attracts a younger generation that wants to call our small city home.

Over the past year or so the community has banded together in large part to advocate for a city skatepark.  Despite the grassroots effort, little has been done.  In fact, $75,000.00 is about to be spent to develop a parks master plan, all while looking past the public's calls for a specific project; The Casselberry Skatepark.

If the Casselberry City Commission took time to investigate the issue, they would understand how answering the public's call for action would most certainly be a catalyst for civic engagement on an unprecedented level.  They could then very easily leverage the support for more projects.

A skatepark would benefit the community greatly.

Its economic impact would be far reaching in supporting the restaurants and retail that must also come to ensure a bright future.

Case In Point:

On a recent family trip, instead of going and staying in the town where we had plans, a choice was made to stay an hour away in a town that has a skatepark and commute to the event.

The result:  Two nights of lodging, several meals at local restaurants and money spent shopping in their downtown.

Our skateboarding family is not unique.  Travel and spending plans are often steered by the presence of a skatepark when family time is planned.

Conversations with people at the skatepark often reveal out of town visitors who are there solely because of the presence of it.

As our city moves forward in its redevelopment, they will be wise to carefully consider how much its costing our community to delay the construction of a skatepark, there are lots of families who would like a reason to visit or move to Casselberry.

Casselberry Downtown & How Skateboarding Would Spur Growth

Currently the conventional wisdom around the Casselberry City Hall complex is to disallow skateboarding.

This policy is due to poor planning policy and a disconnect with the community at large.

Skateboarding continues to grow as a sport and lifestyle within the younger generation that Casselberry seeks to entice into calling the city home.

While all of the current development in the "Downtown District" is geared towards transient (rental) residents, the hope is to have them fall in love with Casselberry and put down roots when they're ready to purchase.

The seeds of change have been sown with the growing art component the city is supporting via the Casselberry Art House and the installations of art rotating through City Hall, but beyond that, there is little that distinguishes us from any other suburban community along 17/92.

The expansion of the park space around City Hall will include a "passive use" park that is set to be the home of more benches and sculptures.

Planning that would inspire the renaissance that is being sought should at minimum include benches and sculpture that would allow and encourage skateboarding in the public space.  By its very designation, true public space is welcoming to everyone.

If the City of Casselberry is serious about providing planning that will sustain it into the future, it should start including skateboarding in its pathways and parks plans.

To better understand, take a look at how skateboarders have influenced planning and the success it achieved in Philadelphia.

 Its time for Casselberry to embrace the future.  A future that will be filled with young families that want to put down roots in an inclusive and hip city, one that welcomes skateboarding.