Prefab Skate Park Planned Downtown

A prefabricated skate park is one big step closer to landing in downtown New Haven, as parking authority commissioners unanimously approved a plan to host the artistic-athletic installation atop a George Street surface lot.

Parking authority commissioners took that vote Monday night during the latest regular monthly meeting of Park New Haven. The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom and Facebook Live.

The commissioners unanimously supported authorizing the authority’s executive director, Doug Hausladen, to finalize a deal that would temporarily convert the publicly owned surface parking lot at 25 George St. into a skate park.

Unlike the recently opened new skate park at Scantlebury Park in Dixwell, this planned George Street endeavor would not require any pouring of concrete.

It also would not be a permanent fixture of the neighborhood.

Rather, as local skaters and Finding A Line — New Haven organizers J. Joseph and Steve Roberts explained, this bowl-shaped skate park was built six years ago in Washington D.C. for a festival hosted by the Kennedy Center. It’s spent the past half-decade serving as a skate park, ​“living sculpture,” and community gathering space in the nation’s capital.

Now, with the support of Yale’s Schwartzman Center, Artspace, and $25,000 worth of fundraising, the moveable skate park is just about ready to be transplanted to the Elm City for a 10-month stint at 25 George St. starting in mid-October.

“We hope to install a prefabricated skateboarding structure in downtown New Haven so it can provide a centralized location for skateboarding, arts, and civic engagement events and workshops,” said Joseph, who also worked with Roberts to spearhead the creation of the Scantlebury skate park.

He said that the Finding A Line group will work with Artspace and the Schwarzman Center to ​“program the bowl with events and workshops related to skateboarding and the arts” in an effort to temporarily enliven a currently underused section of publicly owned land.

Hausladen said that the lot currently has only six parking permit holders, who — if the skate park idea comes to fruition — will be relocated to other nearby Park New Haven spaces.

“As part of the Authority’s initiative to support local neighborhood and community needs,” reads the ​“Purpose” section of Monday night’s Park New Haven motion about the skate park, ​“the creation of the park, with ancillary uses including a skate rink, performance space, electrical vehicle charging stations, food trucks, parking, and other amenities, will add to the quality of neighborhood life and local development.”

What about insurance? parking authority Commissioner Larry Stewart asked. If someone gets hurt on the skate park, who’s liable?

Joseph said that the contractor tapped to move and install the skate park from D.C. to New Haven would cover the insurance related to the park’s relocation. Artspace would cover the insurance of the park itself when it’s in New Haven, ​“because it’s technically a sculpture,” Joseph said.

In terms of liability, if someone gets hurt while skating or otherwise using the space, parking authority attorney Cliff Merin said, ​“there’s no way we would be immune from total liability.” The parking authority can limit its liability by putting up signs, making sure the park stays in good and safe condition, and clearly articulating safety-related rules for the park.

“If somebody got injured and it was because we didn’t do something we were required to do, i.e. negligence, then we would have liability,” said fellow parking authority attorney Joseph Rini. ​“A general liability for an injury based on the negligence of the parking authority would be our responsibility.”

Hausladen said the parking authority’s insurance agents are reviewing the skate park proposal now. The parking authority has already done a walk-through of the site with the city’s corporation counsel.

Has the city ever been hit with a personal injury lawsuit stemming from the existing Edgewood or Scantelbury skate parks? asked parking authority Commissioner Andy Orefice.

Joseph and Roberts both said, in their respective decade-plus tenures skateboarding in New Haven, they’ve never heard of the city being sued for an injury stemming from one of the city skate parks.

And who will ​“police” the skate park to make sure there aren’t too many people in the bowl at one time, skating all over one another? asked Parking authority Chair Norm Forrester.

Joseph said that most skate park sessions are ​“self-regulatory.” If there’s somebody already in the bowl, he said, it’s ​“generally understood: You don’t go in the bowl while somebody’s in there.”

Joseph said that he and Roberts, as two of the more senior members of New Haven’s skateboarding community, will also serve as ​“community stewards” of the park, just as they do at Scantlebury.

“A skateboarding session kind of operates in a double dutch manner,” Roberts said. ​“You have to take your time, sit back, and learn.” That’s the way Scantlebury’s skate park is currently working out, and that’s how they believe the new George Street park will as well.

Joseph said that, if all goes according to plan, the moveable skate park will make its way to New Haven by Oct. 9. It will then take a few days to set up. The opening day ceremony would be Oct. 15, coinciding with the first day of Artspace’s Citywide Open Studios.

Smooth Landing At Downtown-Wooster Square CMT

The prospect of putting in a temporary skate park ​“bowl” on George Street also made a smooth landing Tuesday night at the regular Zoom-assisted meeting of the Downtown/Wooster Square Community Management Team (DWSCMT).

The 25 neighbors attending were generally positive about the prospects as outlined in a brief presentation by Joseph and Roberts.

However, some practical as well as green questions were raised.

One neighbor asked if the plans for the transformation of the lot include green space.

“The potential for green space, we’d like to consider that,” replied Joseph. ​“In the longer term.”

“You could work with URI [Urban Resources Initiative],” that neighbor suggested.

“Yes, they’re wonderful partners.”

Another neighbor asked about the target population for the proposed skate park because anecdotally, they haven’t noticed many kids living in the area.

Joseph said kids are regularly downtown to and from school. He said that he and Roberts are also working with Artspace, which is around the corner and one of the project’s principal institutional sponsors. ​“We’re hoping to use their network,” Joseph said.

Another neighbor pronounced the project as sounding ​“really good,” and Lana Melonakos-Harrison, vice chair of the DWSCMT who was chairing the meeting, said she is looking forward to how the project unfolds.