The owner of a pair of trampoline parks is shutting them down, citing Portland's minimum wage increases and the state's mandate to provide part-time employees with sick leave. Millennials also share part of the blame, he said.

G6 Airpark owner Wesley Dameron, 38, in a note to customers drafted earlier this month that was posted to Reddit Wednesday, said he's shutting down his parks in Southeast Portland and Vancouver. In addition to minimum wage laws and sick leave mandates, Dameron also blamed a "ridiculously litigious society" as a reason for shuttering the parks.

But that doesn't mean he's done with such ventures.

Dameron also announced that in 2020 he would open a 55,000-square-foot "mega entertainment destination" that includes trampolines, "ninja training and Parkour," a roller skating rink, recreational rock climbing wall, laser tag and "a few more secrets that I can't share just yet."

In all, Dameron said this new park is a $10 million venture built "from the ground up." But it won't be built in Portland "because the soft costs and the permitting are dumb."

Although Dameron's plans for a new venture earn a place in his note to customers, he asserts that a litigious society, millennial parents and regulations imposed on small business owners are to blame for him shuttering his two current parks.

"When parents sign a waiver and clearly understand that their kid is jumping on a trampoline, but hold our facility responsible when their child breaks a leg, it's a blow to our organization," he wrote. "It's a massive time sink for me personally, it's stressful, my wife stresses out, and it's expensive."

A Clackamas County man sued the facility in April 2016 after reportedly breaking his neck and dislocating a pair of vertebrae, in addition to other injuries, during a visit to G6 the previous year.

Kyle Burford, then 29, in a lawsuit said the trampolines were "unreasonably dangerous" and claimed there weren't enough employees to ensure safe use. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

He died from his injuries that December.

Dameron couldn't be reached for comment. But the G6 Airpark owner in his note to customers also expressed incredulity at having to provide paid sick leave to "part-time high school students with no experience and no skill set."

The Oregon Legislature in 2015 passed a law mandating employers with at least 10 employees — six or more in Portland — to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees.

"I'm at a loss ..." he wrote.

Dameron, while down on millennial parents, took the time to plug another of his ventures in the note. It's a consulting firm targeted at business owners who need help managing millennial employees.

The G6 Airpark in Portland will shut down May 29. The Vancouver location will follow suit June 16.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com