Indigo Architects recently told the town council that the proposed skate park on Miles Avenue may cost $750,000 to build—about three times more than council members expected.

The town has committed $125,000 to the project, or what it thought would be half of the cost to install the park. But architect Bruce Playle said overseas demand for concrete and other building supplies has driven the cost of those materials skyward.

The city of Scotts Valley locked in a bid for its new concrete skate park, which is set to open Sept. 15, just before the major cost increase. Still, its park cost more than $500,000. Councilwoman Stephany Aguilar said the council was generally against the idea of the park, so most of the money had to come from outside sources. Though the city did give $75,000 in seed money and obtained $142,000 in state grants, the rest came from fundraisers and large donations.

"You just have to find the right people, and that's the key element," Aguilar said. "Once they find out that there are so many young people desiring a safe place to skate, they'll make donations."

Aguilar went to architect Zach Wormhoudt at the beginning of the design process and asked for an estimate of the amount of materials needed. She then asked local construction suppliers for materials donations and obtained all but a section of concrete and some specialized coping from those suppliers.

Wormhoudt is also working on a park for Santa Cruz, to replace the small, temporary Fun Spot park. Though she did not have cost data available, Susan Harris, a planner with the city of Santa Cruz, said the city is facing the same steep construction costs as Los Gatos.

"Given the cost of constructing skate parks recently, fundraising is necessary," said Harris. "The funding we do have now is a combo of state grant moneys, parks and facilities moneys and donations."

For some cities, constructing a skate park required no community funding. The city of Campbell had used city money to purchase modular ramps over the course of several years, so when it built a permanent park, it already had much of the equipment needed. Community Center coordinator Chris Ghione said those ramps, as well as a few new ones, were installed on concrete at the new Campbell Community Center in 2001. The park was part of a larger, multimillion dollar project paid for with capital-improvement funds.

In Sunnyvale, state grants and park dedication funds were used to construct a popular 18,500-square-foot concrete park. City spokesman Adam Levermore-Rich said that park cost $941,000. About $347,000 of that was provided by Proposition 12, a 2000 bond act that allocated money to local agencies for recreational, cultural and natural areas. A share of Los Gatos' money from that act has already been allocated to the skate park.

So barring any other grant funding, Los Gatos still needs to raise about $500,000. Aguilar offered the community some advice.

"Make sure you get a good group of core individuals that are dedicated to it and willing to stick with it for about four years," she said. "People who are willing to go make those contacts and phone calls and follow-ups ... It never hurts to ask—you only get one of two answers."