Belmar's Skate Park Deemed Unsafe For Use: Officials

BELMAR, NJ – According to borough officials, Belmar's skatepark, which has been closed since May, is still closed due to being deemed unsafe.

During the public comment period of the last council meeting, resident Jane Salmon, representing a group of parents, business owners, and skaters called Friends of the Belmar Skatepark, asked the borough council to add the park to the agenda for the next meeting so that it's future could be discussed.

Salmon also mentioned a rumor that the shuttered skatepark would become a paid parking lot, which Mayor Mark Walsifer immediately shut down.

"That's only a rumor," Walsifer said, adding, "we're not looking to add any more paid parking."

"I want it open as much as you do, but we have to listen to our professionals and our insurance company," the mayor said before asking the borough's business administrator, Edward Kirschenbaum Sr., to go into the details on the decision to close the skatepark.

Kirschenbaum Sr. said that the insurance company advised the borough to get a surveyor back in January after the park was inspected to gauge potential repair or replacement costs, ranging from $150,000 to $300,000.

The borough is open to fundraising efforts to get the money for the skatepark renovation as there isn't money currently earmarked for the project.

"We would welcome some fundraising efforts," Kirschenbaum Sr. said. "If there was fundraising efforts to redo that skatepark, we're all ears."