Doubts about skate park location resolved

HOULTON – The location of a proposed skate park became a nonissue Monday evening after Chairman Dale Flewelling rescinded his earlier request to discuss the issue during the Town Council meeting.

“I asked for an agenda item to reconsider the location of the skate park,” Flewelling said, “but I have decided it would do more harm than good. I rescind my request.”

Several teenagers toting skateboards attended the meeting, but none addressed the council.

The proposed skate park will be built on 12,000 feet of paved parking lot near the Randall Street entrance to Community Park. The location has been questioned because of concern that it will limit parking near the baseball fields, and that young children at the nearby playground might mimic stunts and hurt themselves.

“The location of the park still bothers me,” Councilor Paul Cleary said. “I am still very much for this park, but there are questions and concerns, and parking is still an issue. It is too bad more thought wasn’t put into this.”

Councilor Kent Good agreed with Flewelling.

“I think we would be remiss in re-examining the location of the park,” Good said. “The Rotary raised the money based on the premise that they had a location nailed down.”

The location will remain at the Community Park as no further action was taken.

Cleary took issue with a statement printed in a local newspaper after the council’s March 8 meeting. When he attempted to elaborate, Flewelling asked him to wait.

“I’ll just bring it up in the councilor’s remarks [portion of the meeting],” Cleary said.

Later in the meeting, Cleary referred to the previous meeting during which Town Manager Peggy Daigle said that “a few assumptions were made that may not have been correct” about the skate park funding. Daigle told councilors that the town would need to raise $16,000 toward the project.

Cleary disputed that at the time, saying, “My memory [was] that Rotary was going to fund the whole project.”

In a subsequent interview with the Bangor Daily News, Kathie Stubbs, president of the Houlton Rotary Club, said she believed the $16,000 would be raised through in-kind donations. In an interview with a local paper, Stubbs said she thought councilors had been told that Rotary would contribute $45,000, not the full $60,000.

Cleary read from the minutes of a July 2002 council meeting, when Rotary updated the councilors on the skate park’s development.

“[T]he estimated $50,000 to $60,000 will be raised through a two-year, possibly a three-year, fund-raising project,” Cleary read, “and will be the major thrust of the Rotary auction.”

“We have what was said,” Councilor Michael Blanchard told the audience. “We have every intention of keeping our promises. But some people saying that we are not doing what we promised is a little offensive.”

“We basically thought the whole thing was taken care of,” Cleary said, “I guess I didn’t understand what I was doing. Well, color me stupid … I don’t know how we’ll raise $16,000, but we’ll do it.”