In case you are wondering, skateboards win out over restrooms any day of the week, especially when you are dealing with a group of grade-school and middle-school kids.

Leaders in the city’s Parks and Recreation Department are redrawing plans for improvements to Deerfield Park in northern Lawrence after about 30 neighborhood kids banded together to urge the city to rebuild a skating facility that recently was removed from the park because of deteriorating pavement.

The city has budgeted $150,000 to make improvements at Deerfield Park and recently had a neighborhood meeting to get input on the park’s future.

“We found out the skate park was a huge priority for a lot of kids over there,” said Ernie Shaw, the city’s interim director of Parks and Recreation.

Shaw said the department had always planned on reinstalling the portable ramps and other skate features once some new concrete could be poured for the facility. But he said the city was planning on using a good portion of the budget to build a new shelter house and permanent restrooms, which currently aren’t offered in the park.

But now Shaw said the department is recommending $30,000 worth of improvements to the park, which will allow for permanent ramps and other features to be installed in Deerfield.

“I think it will allow for the skate park area to be much improved,” Shaw said.

Parks and Recreation leaders will ask city commissioners at tonight’s meeting to approve a $30,000 contract with Maine-based Whoskates to design and build the Deerfield skate park.

Officials with Whoskates currently are in Lawrence to begin previously approved improvements to the city’s main skate park at Centennial Park.

Shaw said department officials are working to finalize plans for the Centennial skate park. He said the project will have a heavy emphasis on rehabilitating the concrete surface at the park, plus making some improvements to park features.

The new Deerfield skate park is expected to be significantly different from the Centennial Park facility. Shaw said the Deerfield skate park will be designed to accommodate less-experienced skaters than the Centennial facility.

Josh Johnson, a longtime Lawrence skater who has been participating in city planning sessions for the Centennial skate park, said the need is definitely growing for more skate parks in the city.

“I would say per capita we definitely have more skaters than the average community,” Johnson, 39, said. “It is a good time to be a skater in Lawrence. Word is getting out that some improvements are on the way.”

The new plans for Deerfield Park will include more than just the skate park. The plans also include reinstalling a lighted, outdoor basketball court in the park, which also was recently removed because of deteriorating concrete. The project won’t include restrooms or a shelter house, although Shaw said the department is leaving room for such facilities as part of the park’s long-term master plan.

The master plan also calls for a multipurpose walking and biking trail that will run along the treeline of the large open space that exists in the park.

“Everywhere we build trails, they really get used,” Shaw said.

The $150,000 budget is expected to be enough to build the skate park, the basketball court and part of the trail system. Work is expected to begin later this summer, if approved by city commissioners.