ZELIENOPLE — The community park is seeking funds this year for its memorial skate park.

The skate park committee will apply for grants from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Tony Hawk Foundation and the Street League Skateboarding Foundation.

Hawk is a retired professional skater.

“We want to aggressively go after these grants,” said Jeff Barkley, parks board president and committee treasurer. “They’re becoming available in a short amount of time.”

Barkley said the park is waiting for a cost analysis that will give the committee a better idea for applying for these grants.

The goal is to have $500,000 to $600,000 for the skate park. The project has raised more than $150,000.

The committee has been in talks with the Hawk Foundation, including Hawk, the past year. The foundation helped fund the Pitcher Park Memorial Skate Park in Carnegie, built in 2008. The foundation contributed $10,000 to that park.

Barkley said the grant the foundation gives out is $25,000 to $30,000.

The committee also wants to raise $250,000 to $300,000 for the DCNR’s matching grant.

Committee officials said they are not aware of the size of the grant given by the Street League Skateboarding Foundation.

Aaron Kniess, committee vice president and parks board member, said groundbreaking for the skate park will happen next year at the latest.

“We could start breaking ground now by getting the ground prepared,” Kniess said. “You might see groundwork being done (this year).”

He said surveying and municipal approvals need to be done before that can happen.

The borough community park’s biggest fundraiser for the skate park is a series of fish fries. Barkley said “every penny” from the fish fries will go to the skate park.

Fish fries will be from 4 to 8 p.m. every Friday from Feb. 12 to March 25 at the American Legion Hall on West New Castle Street.

“That has become our single most important fundraising event for this project,” Barkley said of the fish fries. “This is the year we really want to give it the push.”

Kniess said the fish fries serve as a forum to tell people about the skate park and its progress. He also said private contributions are being accepted.

The skate park will be designed by West Seattle, Wash.-based Grindline, which unveiled its first design to the community last June. Barkley said $5,000 has been paid to Grindline for its design and consulting services.

The skate park will replace the basketball court and part of the parking lot near the swimming pool. The basketball court will be moved to an undetermined location in the park.

Grindline representatives said the skate park also will be BMX-bike friendly and ideal for skaters of all experience levels.

While the idea for a skate park in the borough goes back to the 1980s, this current effort was fueled in memory of three Seneca Valley High School students who died in January 2010 when their vehicle slid off an icy road and into a lake.