A plan first approved more than a year ago to put a new skate park next to Seymour’s Community Center could face a last-minute location change.
The reason — the ongoing dilemma over what the town is going to do with the Community Center, one of several old, inefficient buildings selectmen have been debating the fate of for months.
Worried that having a skate park next to the building would “handcuff” the town in dealing with the buidling, First Selectman Kurt Miller suggested during a selectmen’s meeting Tuesday (April 2) it might be better to put the park at a backup site near Sochrin’s Pond, off Moss Avenue.
Background
The park used to be downtown, on Wakeley Street.
But it had to be moved as part of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s plans to construct a fish bypass canal in the Naugatuck River.
A skate park committee formed by the town has been holding meetings since last January to work on the plans, planning to pay for the park with about $187,000 in state grants.
Committee members had originally targeted a completion date of summer 2012.
A former pro skateboarder and an official from a company that designs skate parks even met with middle and high school students last April to talk about what they wanted to see at the park.
Progress has since been delayed over a multitude of issues, from paperwork complications to environmental concerns to worries that it could harm the Community Center’s marketability.
Things seemed back on track in January when the skate park committee presented a timeline in that targeted construction to start this summer, with a September opening.
Location, Location…
But the ongoing debate on what to do with the Community Center at 20 Pine St. has once again snagged the plans.
Putting the skate park on Community Center grounds “will handcuff us,” Miller said, suggesting the backup site, at fields near Sochrin’s Pond.
Selectman Al Bruno said the skate park would be “an impediment” in terms of determining the future of the Community Center.
Options for the building would be to sell it to a developer or renovate it, and plans to take advantage of energy audits and evaluations may also impact its future, Miller said.
In March, selectmen approved paying a Hamden firm $2,500 to conduct an indoor air quality assessment of the building.
Bruno said he’d be in favor of building the skate park at Sochrin’s Pond.
“Our future hinges on the Community Center,” he said. “It buys us time to move (the skate park) to Sochrin.”
Because construction of the skate park is approaching, selectmen need to decide where to put it, Miller said.
Although the fields at Sochrin’s Pond are filled with goose droppings, that shouldn’t pose a problem for a skate park, selectmen reasoned, since there would be no grass in the skate park, and grass is what attracts the geese.
Selectman Nicole Klarides-Ditria suggested the possibility of putting the skate park project on hold until environmental information on the Community Center is available.
Selectman Gary Bruce said the park “needs to go to another place” until the board considers all the options for the Community Center.
Selectmen opted not to vote on a skate park location at Tuesday’s meeting, but to take another two weeks to consider a site, and take action on April 16.
