Date: Fri 15-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Skateboarders-Seek-Place

Full Text:

Skateboarders Want A Place Of Their Own

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

They have been chased off the parking lot at the Grand Union and from

Dickinson and Treadwell Parks and now a local contingent of about three dozen

youngsters has approached the Parks and Recreation Commission searching for a

piece of pavement to call their own.

" Any asphalt is basically what we need, " said parent Charles Morace. " We

don't need tennis courts or basketball courts or anything like that. Just a

place for the kids to do their sport. "

But a basketball court is what they may indeed get after the commission

decided Tuesday night to grant shared use of the Dickinson Park basketball

courts to skateboarders and rollerbladers - pending approval from the town's

insurance carrier.

But the skateboarders are seeking more.

Because Coregis Insurance, which covers liability in the parks, won't allow

parking lots to be used for skateboarding, the town has been chasing kids off

public property, leading many to private lots or, worse, the streets.

" It's a growing sport, " said Mr Morace, " and as a town we should find a

safe place for our kids to skate. "

But finding a safe place could cost the town upwards of $30,000 if only to

find a small piece of land and blacktop it.

It's a concern that many area towns have dealt with and found solutions to. In

Cheshire, a tract of land of Route 42 is open to skateboarders while Westport

allows skateboarding on its outdoor basketball courts. Ridgefield has a place

called The Barn where kids can go and in Farmington, a former town pool is

being used by the boarders.

Nearby, Brookfield permits skateboarding and rollerblading in front of the

town hall and even has a skateboarding exhibition every year in October and

New Milford is in the process of building a 4,000-square-foot area for

skateboarding. But Ansonia has a town ordinance against skateboarding and

Trumbull won't allow it anywhere.

Commission chairman Larry Haskel told the skateboarders that Parks and

Recreation is not discounting the idea of paving an area of land, but that

funds might be hard to come by and won't be available until at least late next

summer, during the next fiscal year.

Another avenue, Mr Haskel said, would be to approach the school board about

space up behind the high school, particularly a plateau of land that looks

over the varsity softball field.

But, temporarily, the skateboarders will have to satisfy themselves with the

basketball court at Dickinson. Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian

indicated she would check with the insurance carrier to see if use by

skateboarders would be allowed and if they would be allowed to bring in their

tubes and ramps and other equipment.

Mr Haskel told parents of skateboarders and rollerbladers to get together and

firm up some plans on what they would like to do, then reappear before the

board. " If we can find a way to do it, " Mr Haskel said, " we would. "

Five-Year Capital Plan

The commission on Tuesday night finalized its wish list - a five-year plan for

capital improvements - of two dozen projects it hoped could be completed by

the year 2001.

" We're trying to anticipate what we're going to need in the next five years,

" said Mrs Kasbarian, " so maybe the town can prepare financially for it. This

is basically just a wish list. "

Projects the commission hoped could be approved for the 1996-97 fiscal year

include resurfacing the pavilion at Dickinson Park, resurfacing the five

tennis courts and replacing fencing at Dickinson Park, the addition to the

Treadwell pavilion, renovation of bathroom facilities at Dickinson, replace

the wooden staging at Dickinson with aluminum, purchasing a four-wheel drive

tractor to replace their 1978 Kubota, and replacing the old picnic tables with

heavy duty vinyl clad picnic tables.

Looking to the future, the commission also hopes the Dickinson Park pool could

be evaluated and repaved while ballfields were constructed at Old Farm Hill

and lights were built for the tennis courts and basketball court at Dickinson

Park.

Scout Saving Town $7,000

This is a case of, " I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine. "

The Parks and Recreation Department needed someone to build the information

booth at the new Orchard Hill Park and was expecting to pay around $8,000 for

it. But Russell Zinn, 15, in need of a project to complete his Eagle Scout

requirements, said he would build the booth and all the department would have

to pay for is materials - about $1,000 worth.

" This will fill a need for both of us, " said Mr Haskel.

The design Zinn had drawn up for the project were similar to what the

commission had envisioned for the booth. All Zinn has to do before he begins

work is to get the project approved by his troop and by the area council that

oversees his troop.

If all goes well, the project could be completed within eight weeks.

That still leaves the problem of trail work at the park. Scott LaBianco is

blazing a trail through the park for his Eagle Scout project, but the

commission is seeking other scouts or interested persons who would help

construct other trails through the new park.

Call Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian at 270-4340 for further

information.