Another group of young skateboarders is calling for improvements to their neighborhood skate park.

The Hawaii Skatepark Association wants the skateboarding area at Kapolei Regional Park expanded to accommodate the growing community. The effort comes just two months after a group of Ewa Beach students and community members pushed for repairs at their skate park.

The Kapolei skateboarders want to expand the skate park by about 10,000 square feet, which they say will help ease overcrowding and improve safety.

Kimo “KJ” Madarang-Brandes Jr. said the 7,275-square-foot skate park is sometimes so crowded that “people start banging into each other.” The 9-year-old started skateboarding five years ago and has celebrated almost every birthday at the skate park in Kapolei.

“It would be better for us if we could have more room here,” Madarang-Brandes, who lives in Makakilo, said last week while practicing at the skate park with his father. “This park has had a lot of memories. (Skateboarding) took me into my own paradise.”

The Hawaii Skatepark Association has met with city officials and the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board to push for the expansion, as well as for lighting that they hope will deter vandalism and graffiti.

“The Kapolei park, in our opinion, is very well done. It was built in a timely fashion,” said Eric Davis of the Hawaii Skatepark Association. “(But) it is wall to wall. It can get so crowded that people have to wait extended periods of time to have a go at it.”

The cost to expand would be about $1 million, Davis estimated. He said the organization would be willing to help raise funds.

City Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, who represents the area, said she is putting in a $1 million budget request for the expansion because she is “very worried and concerned that someone is going to get hurt.”

But the city does not have any plans to expand the park, built in 2006, said city spokesman Andrew Pereira.

In January several skateboarders in Ewa Beach made a plea for help from the community and the city to resurface the skate park at Ewa Beach Community Park and to fix the ramps. Dozens of skateboarders, including many Campbell High School students, told Ewa Neighborhood Board members that the skate park was in such disrepair that it had become difficult and sometimes impossible to skate safely over cracks and holes.

Repairs, however, were not included in the proposed city budget for fiscal year 2017, Pereira said.

Councilman Ron Menor, who represents the area, said he has submitted a budget request for the repairs and is pushing the administration to start construction this summer.