Newport extremely pleased with skateboard area

NEWPORT – Just two weeks after having approved leasing a plot of land for a skateboard park, Town Manager James Ricker reported Wednesday night that the park is running well.

The bonus, he told selectmen, is that the town of Pittsfield has agreed to share some of a warehouse full of skateboard park equipment that was donated to it.

Ricker said the property being used is a cement pad to the south of the parking lot of the community center. The town has maintained the parking lot for eight years, he said, and will now lease the area for $1 a year to have it covered under the town’s municipal insurance.

Jersey barriers will preventcars from inadvertently driving into the skateboard area, said Ricker. Parents of the athletes have already installed a ramp, he added.

Meanwhile, Ricker’s appeal to Pittsfield Mayor Peter “Andi” Vigue was answered with generosity. MBNA of Belfast donated the contents of an indoor skateboard park to the town of Pittsfield last year and the equipment has since been stored in a warehouse.

Vigue raised the idea of sharing some of the gear with Newport at Tuesday night’s town council meeting and it was met with approval.

“That is incredible and so generous,” said Ricker. “We are very grateful. The kids are grateful.”

The manager said 20 to 30 kids a day use the Newport skateboard area and there have been no problems at the site. In addition, the number of skateboarders on the streets has dramatically decreased, said Ricker, who also serves as the town’s police chief.

“We’ll get some signs up and we’ll take it one day at a time,” he said. “If it should turn into something we can’t control, we’ll shut it down.”

In other business, the selectmen:

. Set July 21 and Aug. 18 as dates for their summer meetings.

. Approved pawnbrokers licenses for Jon’s Redemption and The Money Shop.

. Renewed all town victualers licenses.

. Signed the SAD 48 referendum election warrant for June 8.