Fair Haven hears plea to save bike jumps
Borough seeking safe spot
to relocate cyclists
COLE VAN DEVELDE Fourth-grader Brian Marra, known as the best skateboarder in his grade, goes for a quick skate and jump on a Fair Haven street. Brian made it clear he usually wears a helmet — he just took it off for the photo. Brian is also an avid bike jumper.
It’s becoming a common theme in Fair Haven — a contingent of kids want alternatives to standard recreation. Just as plans for a skate park hang in the balance, now an organized plea to keep makeshift bike jumps is in the works.
To hear the kids talk about the situation, you’d think they were rallying for peace in the Mideast. They know what they want, and they’re willing to take just about any fair compromise on the situation.
What they want is a few piles of dirt to jump over with their bikes. What they need is a safe haven to jump in. For the past few years, the adolescents who seem to enjoy bike jumping most found a little spot to call their own and jump to their heart’s content on. Call it a little hidden bike jump getaway.
The only problem with this getaway was that it was not theirs for the jumping. The kids never knew of the ownership dilemma until one fine day in September when "bikers" were greeted with a plethora of no trespassing signs at the bike jumps’ entrance.
As they all gathered in a sort of peaceful protest on the property abutting the jumps, the gaggle of preteens and teens soon found out that their beloved jumps sat square on the property of the borough’s Methodist church.
The church’s minister Marvin Wills, a self-proclaimed childhood bike jumper, was there to explain that from that September day forward, the jumps would be inaccessible. Wills explained that the jumps posed what he deemed a safety hazard and a liability to the church, should someone get hurt. Wills also said that there was a lot of litter found on the trails and there were some reports of small fires started.
To enter the jump trails, kids had to go onto church property. That church property extends to "probably about the first 100 feet of the trails, where the jumps are," according to Wills. As the woods get denser and trails thinner, the property becomes part of the borough’s Fair Haven Fields Green Acres-sponsored recreation/open space tract.
Said Fair Haven Police Captain Paul McCue: "I have no problem with the kids exploring alternative sports such as bike jumping and skateboarding, as long as they partner themselves and wear appropriate protective gear.
"The fear I have about the makeshift jumps [partially on and abutting the church property] is that there’s a lot of extraneous brush that could injure the kids as they ride by on those trails. Another fear is that if someone is on the jumps alone and gets hurt, no one would know that they were even there."
Sympathetic to the kids’ plight, Wills told them that he would be willing to work with them to hash out options with borough officials for relocating the jumps to a safer spot somewhere in town. He advised them to gather signatures on a petition to support their cause.
The response he got, only days later, completely floored him. "This 12-year-old named Cole [Van Develde] shows up on my doorstep in no time equipped with a hand-written petition that held 110 signatures," said Wills. "I knew then that these kids meant business. They even wrote on the side of the petition ‘and we cleaned up the trails, too.’ "
For the time being, in keeping with safety and liability concerns, the jumps are abandoned and continue to be posted for no trespassing. A sign written by Wills also is tacked to a tree reminding the jump enthusiasts of the gentlemen’s agreement between parties to resolve the situation through proper channels.
"These kids impress me as earnest, responsible, good hearted, hard working kids. They just have a different idea of what recreation is. Not everyone is a soccer or baseball player. I know how they feel. I used to create bike jumps in my driveway when I was their age. I’d like to see some dirt piles out in the open somewhere in town where they’d be safest," cited Wills.
Realizing that he probably appears as the ogre who stole the bike jumps away from the kids, Wills made it clear that he respects their efforts to stand up for a cause and he’s prepared to help. In fact, he’s been working toward a solution to the jump dilemma since the day he "tore them down," as the kids put it.
In fact, Wills has consulted with Borough Administrator Bruce Hilling concerning proper protocol in preparing a binding petition to present to the Borough Council.
Unfortunately, the original petition that was circulated will have to be redone with a formalized preamble; but, Wills feels confident that the kids will have no trouble getting signatures, considering the original effort undertaken in a matter of days. "I was pleased to find out that this petition has no age requirement," Wills added. "That’ll encourage the kids. After all, they’re the ones who want the jumps."
He said he also has been consulting with people who recently organized the effort to put a skate park in Fair Haven and some other adults.
What Wills is envisioning is "just a swath of ground with mounds of dirt about 100 feet in length and 30 feet wide. That’s all they want. I think that’s easy enough to come up with," he said. Wills also pointed out that this project, unlike its sister alternative recreation project, the skate park, incurs virtually no or minimal expense to the borough. The kids have even offered to maintain the jumps. "All we need is space and a truckload of dirt," he said.
Wills said that he’s encouraged that he’ll be able to gather the information and evidence he needs to move forward on the project within the next couple of weeks. He said he and his helpers were looking into spots at Fair Haven Fields and the Viola L. Sickles School, which, of course, will be subject to Borough Council approval.
"Just like the kids, I wish we could do things a little faster, but covering all the proper bases according to municipal rule takes time," he added. Wills is a former recreation commission member in Waretown, where he used to live. He said that he’s glad that this ironic opportunity to help out with recreation presented itself. "I’m glad to do it," he concluded.
As for the kids, they’re ready willing and waiting to help in any way they can. They say they’re willing to show that they’re good citizens in the making.
"Just because a lot of us don’t like baseball or soccer, it doesn’t mean that we’re bad," said seventh-grader John Vaughn. I’m one of those kids and I’m not bad. I think some people treat us unfairly or think bad things about us because of the sports we like. We should be able to do what we want, just like the kids who play soccer and baseball. We stick together and make sure we’re safe."
A common thread in support of the jumps from the kids’ perspectives is that they’d not only be cheap to construct, but even safer than riding in the streets. "If you fall on dirt there’s much less of a chance to get hurt than if you fall on concrete," said another seventh-grader, Jon Rumph.
"Now we’re being forced to bike on streets and concrete," he continued, "and that’s a lot more dangerous. I’ve been going to the jumps in Little Silver. I’d prefer to stay in Fair Haven. All we need is a bunch of kids with shovels."
"Some people in town probably see us as bad because we like something different," said yet another Knollwood School seventh-grader Matt Micioni. "Bike jumping is a lot safer than a lot of other sports. We want to fight for the jumps. We know we can prove that we’re responsible. We’ll take care of the jumps and each other, everyone will see."