Zachary Stratton takes advantage of the early spring sun April 13, 2021 at the Westfield skate park. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
WESTFIELD – The Parks & Recreation Commission voted April 12 to investigate the feasibility of bringing the Westfield Skate Park in Amelia Park to “usability,” after a presentation by former Westfield resident and skateboarder Jeff Burke and Westfield resident Dan Dziuban, owner of Theory Skate and Snow in Northampton and Holyoke.
Burke, who previously appeared before the commission in February, said he would like to see the city replace the existing skate park with a new park. He said the original park was built in 2000 and is outdated
“It’s a rough park for beginners. There’s nothing approachable if it’s the first day on a skateboard, and it is not a safe place to learn. If you’re not getting beginners there, you’re not getting any legacy users, and attendance is low,” Burke said. He said people in the area go to the Westfield park only out of necessity, because that’s all they have.
Burke argued that Westfield should redo its skate park, because anybody can be involved in skateboarding, which he said has exploded in the last 20 years, “and is arguably more popular than baseball and hockey, which are super expensive (to participate in).”
“Teens are a generation left behind. A skate park provides a safe place for teens to congregate and socialize together,” Burke said, adding that it also supports local business when families travel to a skate park and spend more time in town.
Dziuban of Westfield said he ran a skateboard camp in Westfield for years, but moved it from the skate park to a municipal playground three years ago, bringing portable ramps with him, because of the condition of the park. He said he and his 15-year old skateboarding son only go to the Westfield park once a year.
Jonathan Houston stands with his skateboard at the Westfield skate park April 13, 2021. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Burke talked about potential funding sources for a new park, including Community Preservation Act funds, which he said are being used for skate parks in Braintree, Sandwich, North Adams and Easthampton. Other potential sources include local taxes on marijuana and hotels and meals taxes.
“Grants are huge. The Tony Hawk Foundation provides matching grants of up to $50,000, and is supportive of the project,” Burke said. He said public fundraising is also a factor. In Easthampton, a local brewery is donating proceeds from a fundraiser to the skate park. “Local businesses are going to want to be involved,” he said.
Moving forward, Burke said if Parks & Rec greenlights the project, they could interview and get proposals from designers, “which I’m more than happy to help with, Dan as well.” Burke said if a state of the art park is built, it could last another 30 or 40 years, and designers would help the city set realistic goals. He said skateboarders are going to want to get involved, and a public design meeting is important..
Burke said other area towns rehabbing or building new skate parks include Greenfield, Longmeadow, Worcester and Pittsfield.
Commissioner Ken Magarian said when the initial skate park plans were brought before them in the late 90’s, skateboarding experts made suggestions then. He said not a lot of attention was paid to beginners, but at the time, the park was supposed to be special and unique.
“That being said, I support this 139 thousand percent. Anything I can do I will,” Magarian said.
Burke said the Westfield Skate Park is the most unique skate park in the world, and in the 90’s, skate parks were only 20 years old. “Only a few builders in the world could pull it off. Now companies all over the world do beautiful work,” he said, adding that he didn’t know who built the park, but he could bet they weren’t skateboarders.
Dziuban said the concrete pourers didn’t do a good job building from the design. “They tried. We were ahead of the rest at that point, but it didn’t work out.”
Commission chair Mike Tirrell said he is in favor of the project, and would love to see the feasibility of building the new skate park at the existing location. After the motion passed, Jim Blascak and Scott Hathaway of Parks & Rec said they would explore options with Burke and Dziuban and get back to the commission in the next month or two.
