Why do we need a skatepark?

Skateboarding has moved out of the fringes and into the mainstream, with one in five of all school aged children using skateparks nationwide.  By creating a place for all area youth to enjoy healthy outdoor activities, this project will foster an inclusive community where all youth – not just those who play an organized sports – can experience a sense of belonging.

What will happen to the swings, the play-structure, and the basketball court?

The new park plan will provide for placement of brand new swings and play-structure on the opposite side of the basketball court, which will not be removed to construct the skatepark.  The new area for swings and play structure is more expansive and quieter than the current location.

Who will pay for the skatepark to be built?

All of the costs of construction of the park will be raised through charitable contributions from the public, corporate grants, and public and private grants.  There will be no tax dollars spent to construct the park itself.

How much will the skatepark cost?

BASIC estimates that the cost to construct a 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art concrete park will cost approximately $300,000.

Why is it so expensive?

There are less expensive means of building skateparks, either out of wood or steel.  Those types of materials, however, do not hold up well to regular use, especially in a climate such as ours.  It is our goal to build a park that will require little regular maintenance over a 20 year period.

When will the skatepark be built?

BASIC has five years, one of which is coming to a close, to raise the necessary funds to build the skatepark.

Why use the Crowell Park for the skatepark?

Town residents have been trying to build a skatepark in Brattleboro for over 30 years. Building a skatepark in the Crowell Park site allows families that have children of all ages and recreation interests to have access to a wide variety of activities.  The Crowell Park also provides unique advantages from a security standpoint.  Police will be able to view the park from the street, those who live nearby or frequent the park will provide adult supervision by virtue of their presence, and because there will be no lighting the park will not be usable at night.  That cannot be said of the other proposed locations.

Won’t the skatepark be noisy?

Concrete skateparks are significantly quieter than regular sidewalks and paved roadways, because the surfaces are much smoother.  The majority of noise that skateboards make on sidewalks and roads is due to their pitted surfaces, which help with traction in the rain and snow.  Furthermore, the skatepark will be seamless, unlike sidewalks, so there will not be skipping noise.  Moreover, we are designing the park to focus sound in a eastward direction, towards Green Street School, and will use berms and evergreen shrubbery to muffle ambient noise from the park.

Won’t there be a lot of people parking at the skatepark?

BASIC believes that having the skatepark as a part of the attraction for visitors to Brattleboro is not a bad thing.  The skatepark will certainly attract skateboarders from around the region.  However, it is important to point out that there are skateparks in many of our neighboring towns that accommodate the skateboarding needs of those populations.  Furthermore, the majority of area skateboarders are children who rely on public transportation or their parents to get from point A to point B.  BASIC anticipates that many parents will drop their kids off at the park while they shop or dine downtown.  For the minority of skateboarders old enough to drive, there is ample free and unused parking within 400 yards of Crowell Park on High Street, Western Avenue, Cedar Street, and Myrtle Street.

What about liability?

Contrary to popular thought, skateboarding is a relatively safe sport with statistics indicating that it ranks below all major sports including basketball, football, hockey, baseball and soccer, and even non-contact sports such as fishing and golf in terms of numbers of hospital visits per participant (US Consumer Products Safety Commission, 1997).  Researchers from The Journal of Trauma conclude in a 2002 report that, compared with other sports, skateboarding is relatively safe and that “Skateboarders skating for less than a week account for 1/3 of all injuries”.  Injuries to skateboarders occur primarily when skateboarders practice close to traffic, use homemade ramps or encounter uneven surfaces.  Each of these concerns is mitigated by the construction of a state-of-the-art skatepark.

Insurance for the skatepark would be provided under the town’s liability umbrella.  However, Vermont limits liability for injuries suffered as a result of persons engaging in recreational activities.  12 V.S.A. 1037 – a Vermont statute – states in part that “a person who takes part in any sport accepts as a matter of law the dangers that inhere therein insofar as they are obvious and necessary.”  That means that skaters do so at their own risk, and the town’s liability is limited to circumstances where they allow the park to fall into disrepair and haven’t provided the proper warnings regarding skating at your own risk.

Won’t the skatepark just be another place where kids can hang out and party?

Skateparks across the country have demonstrated that skateparks, where kids can spend out-of-school time engaged in healthful activities, have been successful in reducing teenage drug use, crime and violence.  According to the former Mayor of Louisville, and creator of the renowned Louisville Extreme Park, David Armstrong, “These facilities have an amazing way of policing themselves . . . If you instill a sense of ownership among its users, they will not want to trash their doorstep.”

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