Fairfield, CT (updated)

[Bill Helene]

Lou Heumann is a skatemom to the rescue ... and Fairfield has the money. She began by talking to a local skate shop owner who sent her my way. I gave her lots of ammo. Hopefully this develops on a fast track ...

Fairfield skaters seek town-built park
ANDREW BROPHY abrophy@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 12/20/2007 10:54:09 PM EST

FAIRFIELD — Town recreation officials are rolling with the idea of building a new skate park for teenagers.
"I think it's definitely worth looking into," said Ellery Plotkin, chairman of the town's Parks and Recreation Commission. "I think this would be a great thing for the kids. I hope we can support this further."

Plotkin's comments came after several skaters and their parents made a presentation to the commission Wednesday night, urging the town to provide an alternative to the skate park run by the YMCA.

The commission later formed a subcommittee that will look at possible locations for the new skate park and how much it would cost, Plotkin said. "It's necessary," Eric Zolan, 14, said Thursday. "Right now, the park that we have is falling apart and becoming unskateable."

Lou Heumann, the mother of two skaters, said the YMCA's skate park by South Benson Marina was "two-dimensional" because it consists of individual ramps placed on asphalt, which allow skaters to travel only from right to left, or left to right.

Skaters and their parents would rather see an all-concrete "three-dimensional" skate park that's similar to one that opened last summer in Stamford's Scalzi Park.

The all-concrete park doesn't have separate ramps or jumps and it enables skaters to continually move, in any direction, from one obstacle to another.

Trevor Bradford, who started skating about two years ago when he was in seventh grade, said continual movement, or "flow," is an
important part of the sport because it enables skaters to do difficult maneuvers in rapid succession.

An all-concrete park would be safer for skaters because its surface is smooth and uniform throughout the park. It also would be less of an irritant to neighbors because they wouldn't hear skaters' wheels on a variety of surfaces, like wood, metal and asphalt, Heumann said.

Stamford's skate park, built by Grindline Design Group in Seattle, is about 10,000 square feet, cost $300,000 to build and is open free-of-charge to skaters. The YMCA's skate park is about 6,900 square feet and skaters have to pay a fee to use it, Heumann said.

Heumann indicated that parents would be willing to raise money toward the cost of an all-concrete skate park in Fairfield. "We're willing to do whatever the town wants to do to have this happen as quickly as possible," she said.

Heumann said about 25 skaters met last month to talk about the idea of asking the town to build a new skate park and chose an all-concrete, three-dimensional park as the model they'd like to see.

Bradford said hundreds of Fairfield teenagers skate and that the sport's popularity is growing. "It's really starting to take off now," he said.

The skate park faces a few hurdles.

The recreation commission would have to approve a proposal for a new skate park, and town boards would have to approve a funding request to build it, unless it was privately financed.

[MERK]

hmmmmmmmm

[Bill Helene]

The site is near the shoreline and needs to be above grade. So even though Grindline gets all the mentions, Lou was looking at pics of how it was done in Wellfleet.

[MERK]

better than the "old" wellfleet park. har,har. As long as its crete and sk8er built!!!!!!!!

[Bill Helene]

UPDATE: $225K is pending approval on 3/12. They expect it to pass. After that they're hoping to line up another $100K in state grants. I'll be at the 3/12 meeting and will update after that.

Stoked.

[thechraveler]

like dominos...

[Peter Whitley]

Any news yet, Bill?

[Grinch]

"flow," is an important part of the sport because it enables skaters to do difficult maneuvers in rapid succession.
I didn't know kids could do 'successive' tricks any more!?!

[Bill Helene]

According to my source, the hearing on 3/12 revealed overwhelming support of the skatepark. The next hurdle is the town's budget committee which will decide in the next few weeks. After that they will solicit bids.

[Bill Helene]

better than the "old" wellfleet park.

Merk I skated Wellfleet last weekend and the local kids said liked the old park better. Seriously. More technical ... so put that in your pipe.

Anyway - an update: Fairfield will be bidding this out to design/build firms, not modular firms. Some modular firms are on the state's bidders list which makes buying simpler for a city with a charter like Fairfield's. The process for getting cast-in-place takes longer and gets broken into 2 bid cycles (1 for design, 1 for build). The city rec guy misunderestimated committee folks' opposition to modular in earlier meetings. I'm now providing sample "design/build" request for proposals (RFPs) and skatepark builder web links. Hopefully they're accepting design bids soon. This pushes the ETA out to spring 2009. $225K budget.

[Duck]

If Bristol is $782,000 for 17,000 sq. ft., than is it safe to assume that Fairfield's $225,000 isn't going to get very much?

[thechraveler]

my guess is 7000-7500 sf...

[Bill Helene]

If Bristol is $782,000 for 17,000 sq. ft., than is it safe to assume that Fairfield's $225,000 isn't going to get very much?

Bristol is getting the whole skate plaza landscaping treatment, as well. As far as Fairfield goes, I saw the design RFP this week: 10,000 sq. feet, to include the following:

Terraced park including a concrete bowl,
Plaza and street-type elements,
Quarter-pipe and/or half-pipe elements,
Square, round and curved rails,
Hubba, banked and curved ledges,
Ramps, stairs and other elements.
----
Concrete bowl w/ escalating clamshell pocket, six ft. (6’) mini ramp section w/ two (2) hips, eight ft. (8’) deep end and five ft. (5’) skating area.
Two (2) roll in banks.
Three and a half ft. (3.5’) quarter-pipe - back of platform to be used as ledge.
Two (2) banked ledges.
One (1) euro gap.
Two (2) hubba ledges w/ one (1) side curved and one (1) side straight.
One (1) round rail.
One (1) bank to flat bar setup.
One (1) square rail.
One (1) snake rail.
One (1) curved rail.
One (1) manual pad w/ curved ledge.

This park is going to happen.

[Bill Helene]

RFP reponses meeting Aug 19th.

[Bill Helene]

We had a meeting in Fairfield today w/Breaking Ground and all the kids & city folks. Sam has it for the design portion and will likely be the builder as well. $225K budget, on the beach. Things are happening quickly ...