By John Leggett-The Courier Herald

After a great deal of time and effort, the finishing touches were recently added to Black Diamond's community skate park, built for residents of all ages.

The driving force behind the undertaking was Gail Perkins, assistant to City Administrator Rick Luther. She said the city obtained funding for the skate park through a King County Community Development Block Grant for $167,000. The land for the park was already owned by the city.

&#8220It was quite a bit of paperwork what with working the contracts and soliciting job bids to get the project done,” Perkins said, &#8220but it was worth it to finally have a safe and visible place for kids to hang out and exercise in.

&#8220The actual skate ramp that we used was built by a company in Germany called Rhino and they sent a couple of representatives all the way over here to supervise the installation of the ramp, which was completed by Rainbow Park and Playground out of Port Ludlow,” Perkins said.

Perkins said the skate ramp was built on top of a 100-by-50-foot cement slab. She added that anyone who skates on and around the ramp will do so at their own risk.

&#8220The city will not furnish any official supervision on site, but we have placed a very large sign right next to the ramp which clearly states and reviews the rules of the skatepark, the most important of which are that you must wear a helmet at all times and there are absolutely no bicycles allowed on the ramp,” she said. &#8220Officers will be passing by the park on a regular basis to oversee things and enforce these rules, but we are also hoping that the young people themselves will take some ownership in the park's safety by self-monitoring the facility through peer pressure, which has so generously been constructed with their needs in mind.”

While an exact date has not been settled upon, Perkins said the city is planning to showcase the skate park in middle or late August with a grand opening.

&#8220We were thinking we'd have vendors donate skate equipment as prizes and maybe have a local restaurant come out and grill hot dogs,” Perkins said. &#8220Also we are looking for a radio station to come out and play music and we were hoping to talk one or two pro skaters into coming out and doing demonstrations. The affair is still in the planning stages, but we wanted to put on some sort of event to commemorate the opening of the skatepark in style.”