Skate Board Park


November 27, 2007, work session
(Park will be built behind town hall.)
1. bid documents were prepared by Diana Quast, acting Town Clerk and a member of the Recreation Commission to save money; she volunteered for job; otherwise town would have needed an outside person at a cost
2. Campisi questioned going with the high bidder (there were 4 bids) because he was only one that met two specs (insurance and an ISO certification)
3. apparently lower bidders said they didn't bother to get both, but could have if they had gotten bids. (Was it just sour grapes on their part???)
4. many potential bidders chose not to bid.
5. Board decided to send bids to Rec commission for its review

December 11, 2007, work session
Rec Commission has recommended unanimously in favor of the sole bidder high bidder
Campisi still has problems with it. But ee didn't want to hire a consultant to redo specs – at a cost
It was reported that Deputy town attorney John Buckely was comfortable with the $16M liability insurance spec as well as the ISO certification.

Town attorney reminded the board that other bidders said that they chose not to get the insurance or ISO – but that they could.

The other members of the board agreed to go with the single bid; they didn't see any value to re-bidding and/or redoing specs. Campisi said he'd go on record saying that “something's strange.”

Bids ranged from low of 70,000 and high of 163,000; Campisi didn't mention the 2 bids in between. He also questioned who the $16M liability insurance covered, the installer or manufacturer, but no one else seemed concerned about this; they all said it was the manufacturer

Roker said, and all agreed, that there was no one on the board who was an expert in skate board parks; she'll call Somers tomorrow to try to get some information on their park, which was built by the same winning bidder, even though it's not the same of the Yorktown park.


December 18, 2007
The board approved the bid as recommended by the Rec Commission.

A member of the skate board group thanked the board and asked if the board would consider waiving the admission fee for an initial period. There was no discussion on the issue.


June 3, 2008
During Courtesy of the Floor, two representatives of the group that has promoted the park took note that land was being cleared for the park and asked the board when the blacktopping would be done and when park might open.

At the conclusion of Courtesy of the Floor, Supervisor Peters said that some changes in the original plan had to be made pursuant to NYC Department of Environmental Protection requirements and that the changes would require additional work. He told the representatives that he would get back to them.

(Note: In a brief board discussion prior to the opening of the regular meeting, it was noted that the additional changes would increase the cost of the project and that in order to stay within budget some of the planned items might have to be cut back, e.g., the park's supporters might only get 10 of the 15 features that they wanted. Board members agreed that there was no additional money is the park trust account that could be allocated to the skate board park.)


June 10, 2008 work session
Highway Superintendent DiBartolo explained to the board that working with Councilman Campisi the two were able to rework the proposed plan so that it could meet the new DEP requirements and still come in $12,000 under budget. He did not explain how was able to accommodate the changes within the budget, expect to note that the latest plan did not include any landscaping except for a grassed area. In response to a question from Councilman Bianco, Mr. Campisi explained that because of the changes, the job will require an additional commitment of time and labor from town staff, possibly a total of 3-4 weeks, instead of the one week that was originally planned. (This time from was not completely clear from the discussion.)

Commenting on the $80,000 of additional expense as a result of changes required by the DEP, own Engineer Sharon Robinson noted that it “was costly to construct in a watershed.”

Mr. DiBartolo noted that the original plans for the park were developed by a volunteer board and town employees and that the site plan was provided on a pro bono basis by a local engineer.

Work will begin next week on preparing the site and putting down the blacktop and the town will proceed to order the parts which will take about one month to arrive and then 2-3 weeks to set up.


July 15, 2008
During the "announcements" portion of the agenda, Councilman Lou Campisi reported that the park is “almost ready to go.” The town has completed the blacktopping and fencing and the equipment has been ordered. Because of insurance requirements, the area cannot be used until the facility is totally completed. Parks & Recreation Superintendent Jennifer Fava reported than a opening is planned for October 4th.

 


September 2, 2008
Supervisor Don Peters announced at the board meeting that due to the continuing damage being done to the gazebo on Veterans Rd by skateboarders, the police would be called in when necessary.

 


March 23, 2010, work session

There has been a change of philosophy in the insurance industry.  Insurance premiums would be decreased if there were no staff involved.  A "skate at your own risk" park would be open to all.  The park will also be open to bikers (time slots allotted for them).  Rules will be posted.  Effective as soon as possible (April 1st ?)


April 27, 2010, work session

 

The board asked for police involvement -- possible skateboard confiscation --is this legal?  Jeannette Koster will look into it.

 

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