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Hyattsville is on track to get its first skate park within city limits as early as 2010, but it's still unclear how large the park will be.

The skate park will be constructed at Melrose Park, on the current site of a full basketball court in the 4600 block of Rhode Island Avenue. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is considering keeping half the basketball court and building a skate park on the remainder.

But many of the 20 residents at a Hyattsville community meeting last month said they'd rather see the entire site converted into a skate park and eliminate the basketball court, planner Eileen Nivera said.

Hyattsville's City Council recently endorsed that proposal in a letter to M-NCPPC based on resident feedback, Mayor Bill Gardiner said.

"We did indicate we'd prefer a larger skate park that would eliminate the possibility for a basketball court at that location, but we also noted there are a couple of basketball courts within walking distance," he said. "But I understand Park and Planning's desire to increase amenities and not take away amenities, even if there are other options."

Hyattsville has basketball courts at Magruder Park and the 38th Avenue Park.

A third option before M-NCPPC is to hold off on construction while it acquires nearby property in order to build a larger park.

Residents who use the current basketball court were mainly absent from last month's community meeting, Nivera said. The park proposals may go before the county's Planning Board during its Dec. 18 meeting, when residents will have one more chance to offer input before the board settles on a proposal.

Upgrades to the park include improved landscaping and an enlarged parking lot. The park may be finished in about two years, depending on which proposal is chosen, Hyattsville Recreation and Arts Director Joanne Mood said.

M-NCPPC conducted a study over the summer which found that the Melrose basketball court is used, but not overly so, Nivera said. The court is most used on Sunday evenings by adults or parents accompanying their children.

Parent Anne Zuk said the city has enough basketball courts and the skate park would mostly be used by children while the basketball court would attract adults or older teenagers.

"That may not be a particularly good mix," she said.

Parent Desa Foster is also in favor of a full skate park, saying the city needs to make space for children between 9 and 14 years old, like her 10-year-old son, Je-Kobe Wiggins.

"If there was a skateboard park, then I feel I would be able to give him a little more leeway. I know there will be kids there his age," she said. "There wouldn't be things there I wouldn't want him around."

Je-Kobe attended last month's community meeting about the park because he was concerned over its status, he said.

"I never get to skate board except at Magruder and Greenbelt Skate Park," he said.

Je-Kobe, who skates on any open space he can find near his home, is in favor of a full skate park at Melrose. He said a smaller skate park could easily be overcrowded by the large number of skateboarders in Hyattsville.

In 2001, the City Council received two petitions from community youth requesting a skate park be built in city limits, then-councilman Stuart Eisenberg said.

The city asked M-NCPPC to include it in its capital improvement program budget. About $150,000 was earmarked in 2004, and then an additional $125,000 in 2005, Nivera said.

Greenbelt, Laurel and Bowie all have skate parks. About $175,000 was allocated in 2001 to build a skate park in Mount Rainier, but that project was stalled until this year because of a delayed bond sale, Nivera said.

M-NCPPC is moving forward on Mount Rainer's park, she added, and is currently deciding whether to take the project out to bid or to ride an existing contract.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.