Skate Park Proponents Prepare Fundraising Strategies

By Dottie Evans

Members of the youth skateboard group Newtown Youth Services Outreach and parents in the Newtown Skate Parks Association (NSPA) are gearing up for fundraising to establish the town’s first skateboard facility. They are hoping it can be located at Fairfield Hills.

Director of Parks and Recreation Barbara Kasbarian said Friday that plans for a skateboard park at the 186-acre campus are on hold until the town actually purchases the property, a transaction scheduled to take place sometime in late May or June.

“Meanwhile, everyone is getting organized and brainstorming about fundraising,” she said.

“I’ve already gotten a couple of very nice thank-you notes from parents who appreciate what Parks and Rec has done so far,” Ms Kasbarian said.

NSPA members are hoping in its first phase, the park will be placed in a central location, possibly at the old tennis court atop a grassy knoll on the opposite side of Wasserman Way across from Reed Intermediate School.

They say the modular components of a skate park, such as walls, obstacles, half-pipes and ramps, can be built, taken down, and reassembled for reuse in another location if circumstances change.

A typical skate park is about a quarter the size of a youth baseball field and may cost up to $150,000 to build. The original Parks and Recreation budget request for $35,000 to fund the park was reduced to $25,000, but the parents group led by NSPA director Ken Gottschalck feel that as seed money, this is a significant enough amount to make a good beginning if matching funds can be raised.

Other towns have opened parks with varying amounts of money, Mr Gottschalck pointed out.

“Greenwich opened theirs with $100,000 and I think Bethel had $40,000. Dollar values don’t concern me. For a demo park at the beginning, I say let the town’s need drive the direction it goes.”

Varying Degrees Of     Freedom

Skateboarding has become one of the fastest growing sports in the country. It is often referred to as an alternative sport because –– as in the case of Ultimate Frisbee, a game currently popular on college campuses –– the athletes make their own rules. Also, they are not coached by adults though there may be some adult involvement.

To counter objections that a skate park would provide a focus for loitering and vandalism, the NSPA group believes the skateboarders have an interest in policing themselves, and that they will do so if they want to continue to enjoy the town-built facility.

The fact that they can go to the park unsupervised is a large part of the appeal, Mr Gottschalck said.

He commented Monday about various issues being considered by the skateboard enthusiasts as they plot future courses through a maze of potential obstacles.

“Skateboarding is the wave of the future. You could say it’s this decade’s sport just like stickball became baseball. This can be part of the vibrancy of a community.

“We know teenagers and young adults seek independence, and many want to express their independence in this sport,” he said.

He noted, however, that many parents are currently “polarized” on the park’s possible mode of operation, especially regarding degrees of supervision.

Insurance issues have also been raised as reasons why the park might not be advisable for the town, but he thought such issues were not insurmountable.

“We found by modeling other parks, that virtually all are insured as an adjunct of current town and park liability,” Mr Gottschalck said.

One solution would be that participants could sign waivers in the presence of their parents. Another would be the posting of notices about safety equipment in conspicuous places.

“Injury rates at a skateboard park are less than at the average baseball field,” Mr Gottschalck noted.

There might be volunteers from the community willing to staff the park, Mr Gottschalck suggested, and he added there is a fine line between use and abuse.

“We know that numbers of teens can overrun a facility and we want to avoid that.”

An interesting development is the participation by an increasing number of young children between 8 and 12 years old coming to the parks with their parents.

“The average age is 11,” Mr Gottschalck said.

He said that perhaps the park might have two separate areas of activity, one for the youngsters and one for older athletes.

“We want to engage all the community in planning this project. And if the property at Fairfield Hills can be developed to its full potential, the skate park might eventually need to be an integrated part of an entire recreational component.

“We don’t want it to be isolated. That would not be a good thing.”

In the back of everyone’s mind is the reality that the 2003–2004 town and education budget must pass referendum April 22 before any further action can be taken. If the budget does not pass, there is always the possibility that more town funds might be cut.

Clearly, those already making plans about fundraising are hoping this does not happen.