Parks And Recreation Proposing Skate Park Near Veteran's Park

Parks and Recreation Chairman Mr. Len Zielinski addressed the Economic Development Commission recently proposing the idea of a skateboard park in Phase II of Veteran’s Park.

He made comparisons to the other skate parks in Newington, Hebron, and Seymour, which he suggested that could be used as guides. Zielinski went over potential location (See PDF file). He said that an estimate for the cost of this project would be roughly $120,000 without the cost of structures. Chairman Dave Cyr stated that the EDC would consider the suggestion and discuss it further.

Later in the meeting, the EDC talked about Phase II of the Park.

Suggestions from the public for Phase II of the Veteran’s Park project include some sort of major recreational feature such as a skateboard park, basketball court or covered hockey/ multi-purpose building.

Another suggestion was to continue the approach of Phase I to maintain a passive recreation theme. Another suggestion was the relocation of a historic Berlin steel bridge from a site in East Berlin. It was decided that there was not an appropriate location in the Park for this bridge. Commissioner Ed Egazarian stated that whatever is added to Phase II should be low- maintenance.

Commissioner Peter Campanelli said maintenance would be required periodically for recreational projects. It was pointed out that Berlin does not have a developed "town green" as other towns do. It was decided to further discuss this matter at a subsequent meeting. The choices being discussed were a passive park or a skateboard park.

"The skate park has been something we've been talking about for years, it goes back to 1999," Zielinski said. "In some of the files you will see possible locations but some of those don’t work any more. Veteran's Park was not even a thought in 1999. We are at a point where we will go before the EDC again with something more formal."

Zielinski said the size of the Newington skate park would not fit into the space at Veteran's Park. The skate park being proposed will be scaled down in size to fit in the location.

"There are a lot of reasons why this is a great location," Zielinski said. "It will not infringe on the path an there is some swampy land with trees and shrubs that will shield the park.

"It's in a central location and will have a lot of visibility. The reason that is important is it will cut down on the problems if it was out in the middle of nowhere. There will be a lot of traffic and cut down on loitering and graffiti and things like that. There are also sidewalks, which will help in making the area useful for the kids."

Zielinski said he is prepared from some pushback from the Veterans Commission.

"Listen, I am a veteran and the commission has done a great job on the park but this will make it more like a town center and green. It will bring life to the area," Zielinski said. "Some other people have told me the merchants won't be happy with it. The truth is they won't feel it. The only impact is it might give them more foot traffic."

Zielinski said this might be the last shot for the skate park if it doesn't get approved for this location.

"If it doesn’t go in there I'm not sure that we will ever be able to get one built in this town and that's sad," Zielinski added.