Drivers on Highway 27 heading into downtown Chattanooga get a clear view of the steel rebar skeleton of skating ramps and excavated bowls that make it clear: The Chatt Town Skate Park is getting a fresh new look.
What is less clear is the tumultuous 26 years it took to get to this point. The original decision to privatize the skate park led to volatile ownership in its early days and soured the relationship between the Scenic City and its skating community, said Christopher Scoggins, owner of Comfort Skate Shop on the North Shore.
After years of grassroots advocacy and recent support from city leaders, Chattanooga’s first free public skate park is coming to fruition.
“It is exactly what this city needed and exactly what the skaters were looking for,” Scoggins said.
The project costs $4.4 million. The city of Chattanooga is funding most of the project — $3.9 million — while a state grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation meant for redeveloping abandoned properties covers the remaining $500,000.