With Skate Park for Sale, Proponents Don't Feel They Got a Fair Shake

A group of residents working to maintain a skateboard park in Windham don't believe they received a fair shake in the process that has led to the town's decision to sell the park's equipment.

The Board of Selectmen voted on Sept. 24 to close the area of Griffin Park until residents came forward with a plan that could convince the town to keep the park open.

The "Save our Skate Park" (SOS) group, led by Windham resident Peter Ventola, is sitting with a confirmed $5,000 donation to fund a skate park monitor in town, and Ventola says that his group has tried to engage the Recreation Committee about it with little luck.

"We were depicted as not trying to work with the (Recreation) Committee and we did," Ventola said, adding that the park monitor option was on the table in May when Selectmen voted to sell the equipment.

To arrange one meeting, Ventola said he went through three weeks of emails.

But Dennis Senibaldi, who formerly served as chairman of the Recreation Committee, said that he and his fellow members were willing to change their meeting times to accomodate the SOS group.

"There was a valid effort on our parts to try to work with them," Senibaldi said. "That's not fair to say either, for them to suggest that they couldn't meet with us especially for the six months that the Selectmen gave them to come up with this plan."

Senibaldi said a plan was supposed to be in to Selectmen in January.

The SOS group presented the monitor solution to the Recreation Committee in May, which failed by a 2-1 vote. 

Since the committee hadn't changed its quorum rules since the Board of Selectmen decided on March 4 to reduce its membership from 7 to 5, the vote was void. Town Administrator Dave Sullivan rendered the opinion in an email to the SOS group and Senibaldi the day after the committee voted.

In the old committee organization, a quorum of four members was needed. 

When Selectmen voted to sell the park's equipment, they indicated that the only way they would listen to the subject again would be if the Recreation Committee came to them with a positive recommendation on a solution for the park.

Senibaldi contends that he wasn't going to waste either his time or anybody else's to have the same conversations heard by the committee all over again.

"There was no need to do anything because the vote was still going to be 'no,'" he said.

In the May vote, Senibaldi was actually the lone committee member in favor of the SOS group's proposal. He changed his mind because they came forward with an actionable plan that he thought could work.

He said that he understands the decision made by his fellow committee members.

With the skate park monitor plan, the SOS group proposed that a future park budget be established in 2014.

According to state Rep. Charlie McMahon (R-Windham), who is also part of the SOS group, the plan would address the three issues that originally led to the park's closure – trash, the lack of helmets and profanity.

"The main issue was reasonable oversight," McMahon said. "We're asking (the town) to give them (the skaters) an opportunity, a chance to succeed."

He compared the monitor idea to having lifeguards enforce rules at Town Beach.

McMahon conceived and built the fenced-in recreation area in Griffin Park.

He said that the idea is to provide a safe and sound area for those to express themselves through boarding, and that he wants to cooperate with the committee to continue to provide the best facility in southern New Hampshire.

Also up front in the SOS group's effort has been Windham resident Michele Hutchings, who has seen her son David lead much of the effort to fundraise for a park monitor.

She explained that sports aren't available to everyone in town, perhaps because some can't afford it or parents won't drive the kids, and she wants there to be a place where kids can participate in something.

She stressed safety for the kids skateboarding, with the facility keeping them off the streets. 

The safety issue was addressed in the SOS group's presentation to the Recreation Committee, where they indicated that 42 people were killed in skateboarding accidents in 2011, 30 of which involved motor vehicles and only one of which took place in a skate park.

When bids for the park's equipment came in to the town on June 3, only one partial offer was received.

The town came back that night and put the bid for the equipment out again, this time offering it as a full package. Those bids are due by 2 p.m., with Selectmen set to address them tonight.