[CHARLESTON] -- On Thursday, June 18, the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission (CCPRC) will reveal the master plan for its skatepark property at a public meeting. All interested members of the public are invited to attend. The public meeting will run from 5:30 - 7 p.m. and be held at Edisto Hall within James Island County Park at 871 Riverland Drive.
At the public meeting on June 18, the agenda will include a brief history of the project, a presentation of the master plan, information on the current status of the project and its timeline, and a presentation of the skate park’s elements. A Q&A session will follow. Questions for the team may also be submitted in advance on CCPRC’s website at www.CharlestonCountyParks.com/SkateparkQuestions.
CCPRC is also inviting area skateboarders to submit video entries for a SK8 Charleston video contest. The winner of the contest will be announced at the June 18 meeting. For details or to submit a one-minute video, visit CharlestonCountyParks.com/SkateparkContest.
The long-awaited skatepark, called SK8 Charleston, began preliminary construction at 1593 Oceanic Street in April 2015. During construction, the site is closed for the safety of the public. Located in the Charleston Neck area on the peninsula, the site covers 25 acres with 3.5 acres of upland area. The site’s master plan will incorporate other park elements, but the skatepark features themselves will utilize the majority of the land.
Construction at the skatepark will take place in two phases, the first of which is currently underway. Soil work on the property officially began in April after the City of Charleston released earthwork permits allowing soil improvement and surcharge work to begin. This first phase will improve the soft soils at the site using a compression method. Common to the Lowcountry, this involves a “surcharge” or preloading of the site, with soil as weight, to compensate or minimize post-construction settlement.
Over the past several months, a large quantity of soil was trucked onto the site and put in place by earth-moving equipment. Additionally, geotechnical stabilization fabric has been layered within the soil for added strength. The objective is to eliminate primary consolidation settlement and enough secondary settlement, such that the residual settlement is within acceptable performance limits for construction of the park’s concrete slabs. Once the new soil is in place, the area will be monitored to achieve the optimum soil density. Gravity and time are required to meet this goal; it is estimated the soil surcharge should stay in place for approximately 8 to 10 months.
After the soil surcharge is complete, construction of SK8 Charleston will begin on this stabilized site. Due to the complexity of the project, a completion date for the site is not yet known but is projected for 2016. As the project progresses, updates are posted at the link below (CharlestonCountyParks.com/Skatepark).
