petition supporting creation of facility
Teens submit
petition supporting creation of facility
By carolyn o’connell
Staff Writer
It started in the notebook of an Ocean Township middle school student. Three years later, the notion of a township skateboard park is becoming a reality for Josh Linkhart.
Linkhart, 15, of Barbara Lane, along with Danny Wells, 15, of Holbrook Street, brought the idea for a skateboard park before the Township Council earlier this year.
The two teen-agers’ plan is an expansion on what they have already created in their own back yards.
Linkhart said he went from thinking about what he wanted to making it a reality by first attending town meetings to find the right way to go about making a presentation to the council.
"Our first meeting was about five meetings ago, and it felt like the council shrugged us off," Linkhart recalled this week. "They did not have much interest in the idea."
Appearances were deceiving. Following the meeting, Linkhart received a letter from Township Manager David Kochel, requesting more information about what Linkhart had in mind, and about issues that the township would face if it pursued the idea.
Kochel had questions about safety issues, funding, the way the facility would be used and construction.
At last week’s council meeting, Linkhart and Wells were prepared.
They submitted a petition with more than 550 signatures in favor of the park, provided design ideas, suggested property locations, and addressed funding issues. They also came with a pitch about improving safety in the township because a skate park would help get skaters off township streets.
Linkhart told the council that a skate park in Asbury Park had closed and that there were two smaller parks in Belmar and Manasquan, but the nearest sizable park is in Lakewood, too distant for most local skaters to go to very frequently.
Without local facilities, it is not unusual for skaters to share the streets with cars.
The two teen-agers pitched an asphalt skate park that would measure 100 by 200 square feet with various obstacles, including a quarter pipe, a half pipe, a fly box, grinding rails and a street spine.
Linkhart said he consulted with Ramp Tech, a Virginia company that builds skate parks, and the company gave him an estimated build-out price of $90,000. When asked where the money would come from to build this park, Linkhart confidently responded, "Fund-raising. It would not be that big of a deal to raise that amount of money."
However, Wells suggested that since the township has more than $4 million in surplus, it could be easily funded through the township’s budget.
The young men said the township had several potential locations for the park, noting it could be built at Firemen’s Field, Joe Palaia Park or possibly near the new library, to be built on Deal Road at the former Turner Estate.
"I was really impressed with the young adults and their presentation," said Mayor William F. Larkin.
Larkin has committed to continue working with the two young men to explore the possibilities of making the park a reality.
As for the funding, Larkin noted, "If it works for the town, it will be paid for by the town. Either way, if there is a grant for it, David [Kochel] will find a way to get it."
Agreeing with the overall positive reception by the council, Kochel said, "It sounds like something the council really wants to explore, but the project is too late for this year’s capital budget. The upside to that is it lends more time for research, but I’m sure that’s much to the kids’ chagrin."
Larkin cited some potential obstacles to building a skate park, such as use restrictions, supervision, liability and cost.
For now, Linkhart and Wells said they are looking forward to touring other skate parks with the mayor.