Township to try again
on bids for skate park
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Bids for the design and installation of a new municipal skateboard park at Michael J. Tighe Park, Georgia Road, were rejected last week.
According to Committeeman Anthony Ammiano, who is the Township Commit-tee’s liaison to the Parks and Recreation Department, all four of the qualified bids received exceeded the project’s budgeted amount of $100,000.
The Township Committee rejected the bids by resolution on July 22.
"We’ve come up with new specs and will be going out to bid again," Ammiano said, adding that the bids will be back on Aug. 7. That will leave officials time to review them and approve a resolution at the next public meeting on Aug. 26.
"We did get four bids. We anticipate getting more with the new specs," the committeeman said.
Ammiano said if officials are able to accept a bid in the next round, they still plan to have the skateboard park up and running sometime in October.
The four qualified bids the township received and rejected last week ranged from $105,058 to $199,590. The bidders were from far and wide and included Spahn Ranch Ramp Works of City of Industry, Calif.; MicRob Inc. t/a Exhibit Technol-ogy, of Orange; American Ramp Company of Joplin, Mo.; and Rampage, L.L.C. of Bridgeport, Conn.
The township received other bids that were less than the amount budgeted for the project but they did not meet the project’s specifications.
Ammiano explained earlier that the new skateboard park will be state-of-the-art, unlike the one that had been at the park before the township’s insurance company raised the rates so high that municipal officials had to close the park.
"We closed it down because it would have cost $75,000 to keep it open," Ammiano said. "We elected, under the circumstances, not to renew the insurance when the policy came due. But recently, the insurance industry has taken a second look at it and lowered the cost. It will be included in general liability the way it was previously. We’re going to update the equipment and have a skate park again."
Ammiano said residents want a skateboard park, noting, "There was an outcry when we closed it at the end of 2001."
The skateboard park will be built on the same spot as the old one, near ballfield No. 3, but it will have many new features.
"We are looking to resurface a 97-by-147-foot area with asphalt similar to the way an in-line hockey rink would be surfaced. There will be state-of-the-art ramps, rails and a halfpipe (curved wall). It will be suitable for all ages and skill levels and skateboarders will be required to wear helmets and have identification cards," he said.
The design provides specific areas for beginning, intermediate and experienced skaters and each of the three areas will have two parallel runs. Firms that bid on the project must be able to deliver and install the skateboard park within 60 days of the award of the contract.
While bids for the skate park were rejected, a bid for the 2003 road improvement program was awarded to Stavola Contracting Company, Red Bank, the lowest bidder. The $522,320 contract is for bituminous overlay. There were five local bidders; Lucas Brothers, Morganville; Meco Inc., Clarksburg; Earle Asphalt Company, Farmingdale; Intercounty Paving Associates, Hackettstown; and Star of the Sea Concrete Corp., Old Bridge.