ROSWELL, N.M. — A skating community in southeastern New Mexico is just one step closer to rolling on a new track.

Last week, the Roswell City Council approved the $450,000 grant to move forward with the design of a new skate complex.

While they already have a concept design, they hope the public will add touches to make it their own.

“We’re going to be having four community meetings, which will give everybody a chance to give input on what design features they would like to see submitted for the skate park,” said Tori Hornick, an advocate for UFO Skate Collective. “It’s going to feel like it’s their park and that’s the most important thing, is that this is going to be something they can take pride in because they, you know, were part of the whole process.”

Although they are just getting started with the design, they are already taking steps to help them down the road. They have been working on getting a nonprofit started to help fund other parts of the build.

“My main goal with the nonprofit is to be able to fund events and programming in our facility or in our city,” Hornick said.

The skate complex is expected to have a roller derby track, pump track, and a skate park.

Jeneva Martinez, a pro skater, says this skate complex has the potential to be the hub of southeastern New Mexico.

“It will give the opportunity for people to come from out of town, bring tourists here, we could host bigger events, competitions, and really, it comes down to the kids, if we give kids an area that they can play and be safe,” Martinez said.

They want to emphasize having something for kids to do.

“It’s definitely something that, you know, we can be giving them for free and just like being able to, you know, give them skateboards give them something to do that, you know, isn’t putting them out on, you know, the street, we can give them a safe space to skate,” Hornick said.