When Luke Brown started looking for a place in Baker City for kids and adults to hone their bike-riding skills, he didn’t find much.

There’s an unofficial series of dirt jumps beside the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway just south of D Street.

But that’s a busy street, and the jumps were created by riders rather than designed by a professional, Brown said.

He got involved with Baker Loves Bikes, a local nonprofit.

He also met with Joyce Bornstedt, the city’s public works and parks director, and Jennifer Murphy, the technical administrative supervisor.

The site that seemed ideal for a properly designed dirt bike jump park, Brown said, is a parcel of almost one acre, mostly owned by the city, just east of Sam-O Swim Center and near both of the city-owned dog parks and the skateboard park.

The parcel is bare except for a concrete basketball court that rarely is used for that purpose, Brown said, based on his frequent visits to the site last summer and reports from a friend who lives just west of the property.

The city flooded the court to create an ice-skating rink during several winters, but Brown said that ended in 2018 when the court no longer would hold water.

Baker Loves Bikes is asking the Baker City Council to allow the nonprofit to remove the basketball hoops and the concrete.

Councilors will consider the request during their meeting Tuesday, June 10, at 6 p.m. at the Baker Community Event Center, 2610 East St.

The city’s parks board has endorsed the project.

Brown said he has talked with the Oregon Department of Transportation, which owns a strip on the east side of the property, at the base of the hill leading to the Interstate 84 onramp.

The Baker County YMCA is in “full support” of the project, which Koby Myer, the Y’s CEO, described as “wonderful” in a letter to the city.

Brown said he has also garnered written support from several nearby residents.

Shay Munkres, who lives just west of the proposed site, said she believes the bike park “would be amazing for the kids in Baker, especially younger kids who love riding their bikes.”

“I think it’s a great spot for it,” she said.

Munkres, who has lived there for two years, said she has never seen anyone playing basketball on the court.

She said the profusion of goatheads, a weed that produces sharp, spiny seeds, makes the property all but unusable.

Munkres said her son, Colby, who’s 6, likes to play at the skate park between the two dog parks.

She said the kids who use the park have always been respectful, even helping her son learn to ride.

Munkres said she’s not concerned about having more people, particularly youngsters, visiting the area.

Brown said the plan is to build a park that would include multiple routes suited for beginning to advanced riders.

Brown said he has visited many similar parks in the region over the past year or so, including the Discovery Park in Meridian, Idaho.

“If there was a jump park I could drive to in the Northwest, I went to it,” he said on Monday, June 9, while standing on the basketball court.

The park he envisions would be designed for youngsters riding smaller BMX bikes, as well as for mountain bikers of all ages looking to improve their trail-riding skills.

Brown said he has also talked with a bike park designer.

In addition to removing the basketball court, workers would need to grade the property and bring in soil, particularly clay, to create the “dirt cocktail” that can be molded into solid jumps, he said.

Brown said Baker Loves Bikes’ plan is to build and maintain the park solely through grants, donations and fundraisers.

No city money would be used for either construction or maintenance, he said.

“I understand the city’s financial situation,” he said.

Baker Loves Bikes put on a bike swap meet in April and raised $3,700, Brown said.

He estimates that building the bike park would cost from $280,000 to $300,000, although he said he’s talked with local contractors who might donate some of the work to reduce the cost.

Brown said the park would enhance the city-owned amenities in the area, including the swimming pool, dog parks and skateboard park. He said he has talked with Myer, the Y’s CEO, about potentially building a parking lot north of the swimming pool to accommodate visitors to all the attractions.