Supporters of a $1 million skate park planned for Moreno Valley have no doubt that if the city builds it, teens will come.

And parents, city officials and skaters themselves are also convinced that a roller-hockey rink and skate park planned for surplus land on March Air Reserve Base will be popular.

But experienced skate-park operators say that careful planning is the key to avoiding future problems. Moreno Valley hopes to repeat the success of Temecula's city-run skate park, but avoid the aggravations Rialto has encountered.

The Moreno Valley City Council is looking for $925,000 needed to build the skate park. In a proposed budget, City Manager Gene Rogers has recommended that the council fund the project next year.

Dozens of skaters have attended City Council meetings, speaking out in favor of the skate park. Some have even sent e-mails to council members.

The council is scheduled to hold the second of three budget meetings on Tuesday. A decision about the skate park is expected before the end of June.

But if the money is found, the project is ready to go. The city has already spent more than $80,000 on blueprints. Construction could begin later this year and be completed in early 2002, city officials have said.

Karen Reams, Moreno Valley's recreation superintendent, is the project manager for the proposed skate park. She said she's focusing on finding the money first, before considering whether the city should charge skaters admission to use the park and whether staffers should supervise the park.

She said no decisions have been made.

"The successful ones charge a small fee," Reams said. "I'm still open to the community's input before making a decision."

Temecula's success

Still waiting for funding, Reams has been calling around the Inland Empire to discover what policies work. She points to Temecula, which she credited for running a good program for about five years.

"A lot of cities have been popping up with them," Reams said.

Reams said she likes the Temecula facility because it's supervised and the staff enforces the wearing of safety gear. She said that city's park will resemble Moreno Valley's.

In Temecula, residents pay $2 and nonresidents pay $5 to skate at the park, said Phyllis Ruse, the city's deputy director of community services. She said two staff members are watching all the time, not to give lessons or instruction, but to stop unsafe skating.

Ruse also said the fenced-in park closes when graffiti appear.

"It's open territory like anything else that might get tagged in your community," Ruse said. "But if it's fenced off, then it's not as easy to get to. They can jump it after hours if they're set on tagging."

Trouble in Rialto

Rialto opened its skate park in January. Police have since responded to more than 120 complaints involving the skate park, some involving drug use and lewd conduct.

Rialto acting recreation Director Dan Gentry said he's against the idea of building a fence around the skate park because it will deny some skaters a chance to enjoy the park. He said 300 teens skate daily, and not all of them have a few extra dollars.

"Once we fence it, we will have 100 kids out there," Gentry said. "That's 200 no longer skating. People are going to lose out."

Rialto's Recreation and Parks Commission asked the city's Police Department earlier this month to increase patrols at the skate park and crack down on drug use and graffiti. The commission also wants police to enforce dawn-to-dusk operating hours and keep bicycles and scooters out.

Advice for the city

Moreno Valley's Karen and Marv Schuler have been managing a skate park in their 10-acre back yard for three years. Entrance is free, but skaters have to wear helmets and sign waivers. They also have to listen to 20 minutes of preaching during their skating session.

"It's a God thing," Karen Schuler said. "We're more interested in reaching the kids than promoting anything."

The Schulers pay $1,500 in electricity and snacks bills each month so 250 skaters can spin their wheels in their back yard. Karen Schuler said she believes teens will use a municipal skate park if the city builds it.

"God bless them, but they're going to have a problem if it's not supervised," she said about Moreno Valley's project. "Skate kids aren't always the nicest kids. They like to tag, they like to do drugs -- unlike church kids."

Skaters taking a break from the Schulers' ramps and jumps said they would use a skate park if the city built it, even if it cost them a few dollars. They said helmets are OK, but rules about wearing cumbersome elbow and knee pads might keep them away.

"I don't fall on my knees and elbows," Brendon Stafford, 18, said while balancing himself on a fence under a brilliant spring sun. "It's too hard to skate in pads. It's harder to move in pads. You get all sweaty, extremely hot."

Rick Faulkner, 17, skates twice weekly in the Schulers' back yard. He said he has attended one of the three meetings the city held to collect input from teen-agers about what they wanted in a skate park.

"I wanted to make sure it was right," Rick said. "They need it so kids won't skate at the schools."

Not the first

The city-built skate park won't be the first park for skaters to open in Moreno Valley.

Trisha Dunn and her husband, Dave, were part owners of "SK8 Underground," a private skate park on Sunnymead Boulevard that was open from 1991 to '99.

She said they closed the doors on their business when rents went up and skaters went to larger parks in Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. She said entrance cost $5, with an annual $25 membership.

"When we first opened up, we were the only ones around. But the big companies started promoting," Dunn said. "We couldn't make it, so we had to shut it down."

Dunn said the city has got to find the money to build the park regardless of cost because youths need it.

"I can totally see how kids get into trouble out there because there's nothing to do," said Dunn, who now lives in Orange County with her husband and four sons.

Still Learning

Skate parks are opening so fast in the United States that the founder of Skatepark Association USA can't track them. Founder Heidi Lemmon estimates there are 2,000 skate parks in the country, most of them publicly owned. She said there are 30 to 40 skate parks in Southern California.

An association director said all private and monitored public parks require waivers, and usually some degree of padding. He also said constructing skate parks is a new science.

"A number of parks have been built where they forgot to build it next to a water source," director Michael Oxman said. "Kids complain of dehydration."

Other common mistakes include low-quality cement that cracks, and failing to include restrooms for skaters or electricity for vending machines and lights.

"Even our best designers are still learning," Oxman said. "There are definite problems even with the best of designers."

John F. Berry can be reached by e-mail at jberry@pe.com or by phone at (909) 656-3339.