Boro seeks grant for skateboard park Sea Bright Oceanfront Skateboard Park to be built in P-House lot BY AMANDA BELING Staff Writer AMANDA BELING A contingent of skaters came out to support the boro's plan to build a skateboard park. SEA BRIGHT - - Residents, parents and their children, and teens from other nearby towns rushed to grab the last of the open seats at a special meeting on the borough's proposed skateboard park last week, leaving the rest of the supporters for the project standing in the hall cheering from the background. The Sept. 13 meeting was a public hearing to gather public opinion on the borough's proposed Sea Bright Oceanfront Skateboard Park in order to finalize the borough's Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Grant Program application, which was due Wednesday. "The more favorable responses we the borough] receive, the better our chances are for getting the grant," said Councilwoman Dina Long after the meeting. Minus a couple of phone calls from opponents, she noted the high volume of those in favor of the proposed skate park, most of whom were at the meeting to show their support. If the borough receives the $153,000 in grant money applied for, the remainder of the funds to construct the park, which will cost $367,000, will be raised through private fundraising, according to Felecia Stratton, chairwoman of the recreation committee. Borough Engineer David Hoder noted that the borough hopes to award the contract at the start of the new year, and expects the skate park, which will be located at the Peninsula House lot on Ocean Avenue, to be completed by November. Discussing design features, Hoder said skaters would have three main areas where they can skate and do tricks and perfect their moves. "The borough has adequate personnel to maintain this. There isn't a lot that needs to be done. It will be made mostly of concrete except for the rails and steel parts that define the edges of the quarter pipes and the ramps. "The idea is that it will be impervious to nature, which is a good thing in Sea Bright because the storms will be coming through and we don't want it to get destroyed," he said. According to Hoder, there will be a drain in the center of the bowl, which is going to be 4-feet deep, so that the facility drains after a storm, making the bowl usable within 15 minutes after a storm. "The other good thing about this park is that there is adequate parking, it's adjacent to the beach and the highway, so it's easily accessible off Route 36," he said. Any concerns about noise and problems with the skaters were quickly abated with the reassurance of the coun- cil that the park will be supervised, will be fenced in and that the hours of operation will not extend after dark. The Rev. Robert Long, pastor of First United Methodist Church on Ocean Avenue, said that to some of the adults a skateboard park might not seem like a traditional playground, but that this is what the young people in town do. "They're part of a 'board culture'," he said. "When we think of what there is for our kids to do in town there isn't really a safe and constructive place for our kids to play on a regular basis," he added. Derf McTighe, of Island Style, 1032 Ocean Ave., said that he's been working at the shop for 30 years and has been dealing with youths for the same amount of time and feels the skate park would be a very positive addition for the youths in town. Former Councilman Andrew Mencinsky, who also is executive director of Surfers Environmental Alliance, told the meeting the skate park is a "phenomenal" step for the borough and that the park would be great for Sea Bright youths as well as those in other communities who will undoubtedly spend time in the new skate park. "The only things I ask are that [the borough] find out if other recreation budgets in other communities have money to help fund this park because there is money there. And the other thing I ask is that this park be designed by a skater," he said. Jason Baldessari, the design and sales consultant with Spohn Ranch, which designs and builds skate parks, said that he worked with the local skaters to help design and develop the layout that was displayed at the meeting. "I grew up in Sea Bright and I worked at Derf 's shop, Island Style, and I grew up surfing and skating. I do a lot of these skate parks, and I can say that these kids have designed what they want and I can't think of any reason why Sea Bright shouldn't have this skate park," he said. Joan Osgoodby, Island View Way, read a letter at the meeting that she wrote to the Monmouth County Park System regarding the skate park. "The other night my family and I dined [at one of the local restaurants in the borough] and we were sitting at an outside table and we couldn't enjoy our meal … It was because of the knot in my stomach as I heard, on three occasions during my meal, the screeching of breaks as five children played in the street on their skateboards and bicycles. "But after witnessing these near misses in such a very short span of time, my support for a skate park in Sea Bright has increased ten-fold," she said. In her letter, Osgoodby described the need for the park by referring to the installation of a new traffic light that sometimes results from a fatality. "Let's instead be proactive and build a safe place for our kids before a tragedy occurs. It's a numbers game, and based on what I witnessed that evening it's only a matter of time before we tragically lose one of our kids. We need this grant money, so please help keep our kids safe," she said.