Politics & Government
Host of Questions on Proposed Skateboard Park Need Answers
Barrington High School senior Alex Raad proposed a skateboard park at Legion Way as his senior project.
A Barrington High School senior who has proposed building a skateboard park off of Legion Way was met with a barrage of questions from the Parks and Recreation Commission Thursday night, Dec. 19.
He also was told to meet with the town manager by committee chairman Mike Seward before he returns to the commission with answers to their questions.
Alex Raad, who is pushing the skateboard park as his senior project at the high school, came up a bit short on answers to questions about storage if it is set up as a portable park, the weight of the individual ramps and jumps, the effort involved to assemble and disassemble the park, and its and movability and longevity.
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Raad is expected to return to the company, Skatewave, that he has been working with to come up with a concept for the park to get the answers he needs.
Of course, said Seward, if the commission does not get a RI Department of Environmental Management grant it applied for several weeks ago that it can use to create a paved area for the skateboard park, the project is dead in the water.
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“We should know in January,” said Seward. “Come back to us in January or in February if we don’t know by then.”
Raad’s proposal would fit in an approximate 100x40-foot space inside the ice skating rink or nearby on Legion Way. It seemed to get lukewarm support from members of the commission.
Cost of the skateboard park could range from $62,000 to $80,000, Raad told the commission. The design he presented – a Tier 1 design -- would not have a ramp or jump higher than 12 feet off the ground and it would be enclosed by a fence.
Seward said the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust would provide insurance coverage for a Tier 1 facility. But it wouldn’t provide insurance coverage for anything higher.
Seward also told Raad that another possibility for funding for the park could be through a line item in Barrington’s capital budget. But the fate of the park could then hinge on it getting the approval of a Financial Town Meeting.
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