The Londonderry Recreation Commission met on May 11 to discuss the closure and demolition of the town’s former skate park following an inspection by Primex, the town’s insurance provider. The Department of Public Works is overseeing the removal.
“The skate park is being torn down. DPW is doing the work, they took all of the metal off last week, and I think what’s holding them up now is that there are two dumpsters and they’re full,” explained Commissioner Art Psaledas. “Once those are emptied out, it will be short work. It will be a day’s work for them.”
Psaledas added that some of the wood used for the ramps “already had holes” and said the town was “fortunate” no serious injuries occurred. The demolition has been controversial, despite the deteriorating condition of the facility.
“Last meeting I answered like 80 emails from people. Since we were at the last Town Council meeting, I’ve had maybe one or two,” Psaledas said. “It has kind of calmed down. They are leaving the asphalt.”
According to the Primex report, the skate ramps suffered from missing screws, corroding metal, poorly placed structures, and scattered debris. Built in 2000 and funded through a $75,000 warrant article, the outdoor park lacked a routine maintenance program, contributing to its decline.
“We’re going to look to evaluate what we want to do with that space,” said Assistant Recreation Director Doug Cole. “We’ve reached out to the skate park community and some of the companies they work with about putting together what a project would look like to create an assessment. It’s also opened up to other groups that might want to repurpose that area for something else, so we will develop and look at those plans and assess what’s best for that property space.”
Cole said the Recreation Department intends to continue gathering public input on the future of the site.
“We put out a survey which we gathered information on, and we got around 400 respondents. About 300 said they were users of the skate park, though I don’t know about that number. In my three years I don’t think I’ve seen 300 users in there,” Cole said, noting that some responses likely came from non-residents. “Let’s talk through the process and see where we can go with it.”
He emphasized that nearly all feedback about the skate park’s fate has been “great and respectful.” Several commissioners observed that many opponents of the skate park tended to be older residents.
“This statement isn’t statistically reliable or anything, but based on what I’ve seen, the demographics of skaters have changed,” Psaledas said. “When we opened the park back in 2000, there were a lot of young kids, eight year olds, nine year olds, some even younger. But now, it’s different. Now, I even saw guys with grey hair. It’s an older group now. They’re very passionate about it, but I don’t see younger kids here like I used to.”
The next meeting of the Londonderry Recreation Commission is scheduled for Monday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sunnycrest Conference Room.