SANTA CRUZ — The environmental impact report for a proposed skateboard park at Neary Lagoon says it can be developed without harming nearby wildlife habitat.

The report does, however, recommend some changes to the skateboard park to make it more acceptable to environmentalists, who argue the use is not appropriate for the site.

The Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department report is the latest step in a long fight by skateboarders and their supporters for a park. Two other project sites have been denied.

A vocal group of opponents has gathered signatures and written letters of opposition about the Neary site. Friends of Neary Lagoon say the track will cause noise problems, and is incompatible with the park’s 44-acre wildlife refuge and nature education area.

According to the environmental impact report, the skateboard park won’t have a major impact on the park or its wildlife. The area encompasses riparian vegetation, freshwater marshes, open water areas and nature trails.

A suggested change in the impact report is the elimination of a 15-space parking lot off of Bay Street. Other proposed changes include resurfacing paths connecting the lagoon to the skate park with a non-skateable material and having an erosion-control expert review construction plans.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission is scheduled to discuss the impact report at its Sept. 13 meeting. The skateboard park plan is scheduled to go before the City Council in October.

The proposed 14,600-square-foot concrete track would be for skateboarders and in-line skaters.

Neary Lagoon Park is a natural setting, but the city’s wastewater treatment plant is right next to it and almost as large as the park itself. In addition, heavily traveled Bay Street runs along the area’s southern border. Train tracks also run along that stretch.

A residential area, including Cypress Point Apartments, Shelter Lagoon Condominiums, Arbor Cove Senior Commons and Neary Lagoon Cooperative Housing, abuts the other side of the lagoon.

The latest impact report notes that wildlife in the lagoon and residents in the area are subjected to noise levels higher than what skaters would generate. The noise comes from the treatment plant, park maintenance and traffic, the report states.

Past proposals at Harvey West Park and San Lorenzo Park were nixed for after neighbors near those sites argued that a skate park would be too noisy and interrupt their way of life.

The council shot down the San Lorenzo site in November 1998, saying that the Neary Lagoon site or a spot on the old depot property at Washington and Center streets would be better suited.

The six-acre depot site was purchased by the city Tuesday for $3.3 million from Union Pacific Railroad, but there’s already plenty of uses planned for the site, including a four-acre transportation hub, bus shuttle stop, parking lot, a playing field and, possibly, a natural history museum.