The skate park local that skateboarders lobbied for in the late 1990s saw its final skaters last fall.

Executive Director of the Eau Claire YMCA, Ken Van Es said the closing was motivated by a number of factors.

Attendance was on a steady decline while maintenance costs were on the rise, Van Es said.

“Everything we tried kind of dwindled over the years and at some point we can use our resources elsewhere,” Van Es said.

The park was opened in 1999 at 229 Moore St. in response to a demand for a place for skaters other than the streets. The city couldn’t find a place without neighborhood complaints so the YMCA stepped in, Van Es said, offering to dedicate a piece of land without many neighboring houses to the project.

Since its opening, the park has seen nothing but decline in attendance numbers and when the city opened a free, unattended skate park of its own in 2013 things got even grimmer for the YMCA skate park.

UW-Eau Claire senior David Stingley began working at the YMCA skate park last spring and said on an average day he would see about ten skaters at the park, which charged $2 for members and $4 for non-members.

Though Stingley doesn’t skate much he considers the skate park beneficial to the community, he said.

“It’s kind of unfortunate to see it close because the ramps are some of the nicest in the city. There is another skate park but the YMCA (ramps) are actually wood,” Stingley said.

Local skateboarder and Eau Claire sophomore, Anthony Ducosin said he considered the YMCA skate park a quality place to skate.

“I don’t see how it is going to benefit the community if they are closing one of the two skate parks in Eau Claire. People are going to have to skate on the streets,” Ducosin said. “It definitely is a loss. It was a quality skate park, it could have been maintained better in previous years, but it was a good place to skate.”

Stingley said he hopes to see the equipment from the YMCA skate park donated somewhere else.

“It is pretty good material and I think it can be used somewhere else. It’s unfortunate to lose this spot for skaters,” Stingley said. “I hope they don’t start skating around the city because I know a lot of people in the public really hate that and I think it would be nice if they donate them somewhere else so they can still be used.”

Van Es said the YMCA has dealers attempting to sell the equipment.  As for the land that sits right next to the YMCA’s tennis center, Van Es said there are no concrete plans, but outdoor tennis courts are a possibility.