Post by bermshot on Jul 6, 2006 22:21:03 GMT -5
www.seacoastonline.com/news/yorkstar/07062006/news/109415.htm
KENNEBUNK — Come this fall, skaterboarders around the Kennebunks will be having a flipping good time at their new and improved park on Factory Pasture Lane. Old ramps will disappear, new ramps and obstacles will replace them.
Selectmen voted unanimously last week, giving the recently formed Skate Park Renovation Committee the go-ahead to contract with local skate park builder Tom Noble and his SPC Skateparks.
Since the original park was built over a decade ago by a similar volunteer committee, skateboarding’s popularity has soared. The once marginalized sport has become a worldwide, multi-billion dollar industry — one need look no further than the sales of Tony Hawk’s video games, ESPN’s X-Games, the sales of skateboarding sneakers and apparel, and the current consideration of the sport being included in the Olympics.
The Kennebunk Skate Park Committee and the Parks and Rec Department will be working with the $23,000 of funding voters approved at last year’s Town Meeting.
Noble’s major revamping of the park’s ramping will eat up $19,950 of the total budget. A surface refinish of the park’s tarmac will cost another $2,000. The remaining $1,050 will be put toward materials for a new mini-half pipe.
Skaters told selectmen last week they would raise any further funds needed to complete the renovation. The group is planning a fall concert as well as offering ongoing skateboarding lessons.
The committee of nearly a dozen local skaters worked quickly and has met frequently during the past two months to create the new park plan. Parks and Rec Director Brian Costello fast-tracked the committee formation and presentation at selectmen’s request.
Skater Matt Seavy told selectmen the group took many things into consideration during the process. While trying to get the most bang for their buck and fully utilize the current park location, Seavy said they also sweat the small details — like taking the community’s littlest riders into consideration.
“This park will be fun even for first-time riders,” Seavy said.
The new park layout does away with the busted up and obsolete concrete pyramid currently at the park’s center. Noble will construct a new, much-larger pyramid along the park edge farthest from the road.
The new pyramid will include “real world” obstacles skaters love such as stairs, handrails, and ledges. Entire sociology books have been written about skateboarders’ ability to reinterpret the urban landscape and architecture. Their revision has caused architects around the world to change the way they design the entries of office buildings and public gathering areas.
In order to use every inch of tar available, the existing steel-framed, Noble-built quarter-pipe ramps that ring the park will be pushed back some 10-feet and sit on concrete footings.
An 8-inch high, 4-foot wide by 12-foot long concrete pad will be poured near the park’s center. Two higher concrete ledges (12 inches and 18 inches) will be poured along the park’s roadside edge.
Noble’s bid includes his labor to construct a 4-foot-high by 16-foot-wide mini half pipe but not the cost of materials. Skaters say they will start with the $1,050 they have and raise the balance themselves.
Because it appears skateboards have been singled out as making more trouble than those at, for example, the baseball diamond in Lower Village (where adults are seen drinking beer while playing ball), selectmen asked the skateboarders what they planned to do about self-monitoring their park.
Costello pointed out to selectmen that vandalism (such as spray painting) is not something unique to the skateboard park. Bad things can and do happen, he said, at all of the town’s parks.
The Kennebunk Skate Park however may become the first park ever in town with video surveillance plugged into the police station. Whether that is something the kids will be expected to pay for via fund raising, or a town mandate the town will fund itself, remains to be seen.
KENNEBUNK — Come this fall, skaterboarders around the Kennebunks will be having a flipping good time at their new and improved park on Factory Pasture Lane. Old ramps will disappear, new ramps and obstacles will replace them.
Selectmen voted unanimously last week, giving the recently formed Skate Park Renovation Committee the go-ahead to contract with local skate park builder Tom Noble and his SPC Skateparks.
Since the original park was built over a decade ago by a similar volunteer committee, skateboarding’s popularity has soared. The once marginalized sport has become a worldwide, multi-billion dollar industry — one need look no further than the sales of Tony Hawk’s video games, ESPN’s X-Games, the sales of skateboarding sneakers and apparel, and the current consideration of the sport being included in the Olympics.
The Kennebunk Skate Park Committee and the Parks and Rec Department will be working with the $23,000 of funding voters approved at last year’s Town Meeting.
Noble’s major revamping of the park’s ramping will eat up $19,950 of the total budget. A surface refinish of the park’s tarmac will cost another $2,000. The remaining $1,050 will be put toward materials for a new mini-half pipe.
Skaters told selectmen last week they would raise any further funds needed to complete the renovation. The group is planning a fall concert as well as offering ongoing skateboarding lessons.
The committee of nearly a dozen local skaters worked quickly and has met frequently during the past two months to create the new park plan. Parks and Rec Director Brian Costello fast-tracked the committee formation and presentation at selectmen’s request.
Skater Matt Seavy told selectmen the group took many things into consideration during the process. While trying to get the most bang for their buck and fully utilize the current park location, Seavy said they also sweat the small details — like taking the community’s littlest riders into consideration.
“This park will be fun even for first-time riders,” Seavy said.
The new park layout does away with the busted up and obsolete concrete pyramid currently at the park’s center. Noble will construct a new, much-larger pyramid along the park edge farthest from the road.
The new pyramid will include “real world” obstacles skaters love such as stairs, handrails, and ledges. Entire sociology books have been written about skateboarders’ ability to reinterpret the urban landscape and architecture. Their revision has caused architects around the world to change the way they design the entries of office buildings and public gathering areas.
In order to use every inch of tar available, the existing steel-framed, Noble-built quarter-pipe ramps that ring the park will be pushed back some 10-feet and sit on concrete footings.
An 8-inch high, 4-foot wide by 12-foot long concrete pad will be poured near the park’s center. Two higher concrete ledges (12 inches and 18 inches) will be poured along the park’s roadside edge.
Noble’s bid includes his labor to construct a 4-foot-high by 16-foot-wide mini half pipe but not the cost of materials. Skaters say they will start with the $1,050 they have and raise the balance themselves.
Because it appears skateboards have been singled out as making more trouble than those at, for example, the baseball diamond in Lower Village (where adults are seen drinking beer while playing ball), selectmen asked the skateboarders what they planned to do about self-monitoring their park.
Costello pointed out to selectmen that vandalism (such as spray painting) is not something unique to the skateboard park. Bad things can and do happen, he said, at all of the town’s parks.
The Kennebunk Skate Park however may become the first park ever in town with video surveillance plugged into the police station. Whether that is something the kids will be expected to pay for via fund raising, or a town mandate the town will fund itself, remains to be seen.
