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The city of Dripping Springs will be naming their new park the Dorian Kweller Skate Park. The name memorializes 16-year-old Dripping Springs High School student Dorian Kweller, who died in a car accident in February of this year. He and his family moved to Dripping Springs in 2018 where he attended the Skybridge Academy, now known as The Appamada School, and then later Dripping Springs High School. He was an avid skateboarder and heavily involved in the Dripping Springs Skate Club, as well as an integral member of the Dripping Springs High School music program. He was an emerging musician who performed under the stage name “ZEV,” and was scheduled to make his live debut at South by Southwest music festival in Austin in March, a month after he suffered his fatal accident. Six hours before his death, Volatile Skateboards had offered him a sponsorship deal.
The 12,000 to 15,000 square foot park will be constructed at the north end of Founders Memorial Park, just beyond the football fields, on a 1.5 acre tract of land donated by the city of Dripping Springs.
The parks genesis began in March 2014 when skateboarding classes were offered through the Dripping Springs Community Education program. In 2017, the city council approved a skate park proposal brought by the Dripping Springs Skate Park Initiative and entered into a license agreement in 2019. In June 2022, the council approved an extension of the license agreement, requiring that all construction funding for the park be completed within two years.
