FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A plan to build a city skateboard park rolled closer to completion last week with the announcement of a major financial donation for the project.

“We had a nice person who wished to remain anonymous that made a donation of $25,000 for the skateboard park,” Mayor Tim Kant said at the Oct. 22 City Council meeting. “She is a dedicated person who has done a lot of things (for the city) over the years.”

The donation will be added to a $38,000 state grant received this summer.

The $87,000 budget and plans for the project are described in a grant application filed July 25 with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Development.

“It was great to get the $25,000,” Kant said. “So, I told Eddie Boyett to move forward with the park.”

Boyett, parks and recreation department director, said the design of the skate park would follow the plans in the grant application. He said that following those plans was required in order to receive the grant award.

The grant amount was based on the city matching it through cash or in-kind services of labor and equipment.

“It won’t be hard to raise the remaining amount,” said Boyett, who also helped facilitate the recent donation. “This is something we’ve had on our list of things to do for years. It’s been a real community effort.”

Boyett said Councilwoman Debbie Quinn had also been very active in promoting the project.

The building of a skate park is the latest in a number of construction projects of the parks and recreation department, including several new tennis courts and softball fields. Other projects are proposed, but the centerpiece will be the addition of a new building next to the current recreation center to include a gym, raised walking track, sauna, game and conference rooms and a racquetball court.

“(The skate plaza) is just another piece in the puzzle for the youth and the people of Fairhope to enjoy the services of our city parks,” Boyett said.

Plans for a city skate park or skate plaza have been discussed for more than a decade, said Billy Michalopoulos, one of the organizers of a citizen committee to promote a skate park.

During the past two years, two skateboard demonstrations featuring professionals were presented downtown to raise awareness about skateboarding and attended by several hundred people each time, he said.

A public meeting was also attended by a large crowd, he said, as well as petitions presented to the City Council.

“I think the city should call a meeting and present the plans to the public,” he said. “Let’s do it right to make sure it works for the city as well as for the kids. It will get them off public and private property, but only if they use it.”

Boyett said the plans in the application were based on public meetings and public input.

The drawings in the application show a triangular-shaped sidewalk winding through the woods at the Volanta Street Municipal Park. At each end of the sidewalk is a large concrete slab with skateboard obstacles. One of the ends is larger than the other two and with more obstacles. Some of the obstacles in the plans are described as a corner slope with arch, a two-step ledge, a curb, three steps with ledge, six steps with ledge and a metal rail.

The plans state that only two to three of the many trees on the site will be cut.

Quinn said she is happy to see the project move forward, but that the process for getting to this point did not come easily.

She said it took a lot of citizen action by people like Michalopoulos and Jared Glattli, the chair of the skate park committee.

“About six or seven years ago, a group of kids brought a petition to the City Council for a skate park,” Quinn said. “But the council didn’t pay any attention to it.”

One local business has been watching the development of the skate park with great interest.

“We are very excited,” said Nina McBride, co-owner of Adrenaline on Fairhope Avenue, which sells skateboards, clothes and supplies. “It needs to be something that kids can really skate on and enjoy.”