Highlands Lands Funding for New Skate Park

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By Allison Perrine

ALLISON PERRINE
Highlands’ skate park sits at the intersection of Bay and Snug Harbor avenues. Currently, officials are accepting input on what the redesign should look like.

HIGHLANDS – As the sport of skateboarding continues to evolve, its parks should, too.

That’s partly why Highlands Borough is looking to upgrade its Snug Harbor Skate Park which has been closed for over a year. The 120-foot-long by 55-foot-wide property contains a few slightly rusted skate ramps and railings atop an asphalt surface. When it first opened over 20 years ago that was sufficient.

“Now we’re at a day and age when (skateboarding) was in the Olympics and you have people making solid livings off of it,” said Jason Baldessari, a representative of Spohn Ranch Skateparks who led a public input session on the topic Dec. 6. “It’s not just that random sport that outcasts were doing. It’s mainstream. It’s everywhere.”

This summer, Spohn Ranch worked with borough officials to create a conceptual design for the new skate park in order to apply for grant funding through the state Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Green Acres program. It featured new skate equipment, a fresh layout and replacement of the existing asphalt surface.

According to Baldessari, that design was meant to be a place holder. “It was something to get us to this meeting so that we can have funding… to get this park done,” he said.

Since then, the borough announced that it was selected to receive a combination grant and loan by the DEP Green Acres program totaling nearly $600,000. The borough also expects a decision from the Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Grant this month on whether or not it will offer a matching grant up to $250,000 to be applied to offset the 2 percent loan component of Green Acres funding.

“The borough is extremely grateful to the NJDEP for making this funding available for what will certainly be a benefit to the community,” it posted Oct. 21.

Atlantic Highlands resident Christian Richards said he likes the concept design “a lot” but suggested the new design also include transition equipment which is easier for beginners and younger skaters to use. He finds that at the Long Branch park, children can feel overwhelmed skating into the two open bowls, which are typically sunken into the ground, and utilized by more experienced skaters.

“It’s hard, I think in general, for beginners to go in bowls. It’s kind of (used) one at a time and younger kids are intimidated to go in. So I like how the design has a lot of transition that would help people learn,” Richards said.

Similarly, Highlands resident Nathanael Burel said he would “like to see something that’s going to allow the kids to be growing, to learn and progress.”

Baldessari said it is unlikely they would be able to build bowls in Highlands due to the water cables in the area, but that he does hope to have various equipment styles with “a lot of different elevations” and options for skaters to start as beginners and work their way up to street style features like rails, ledges or other equipment. “We want the park to be user-friendly,” he said.

The idea to upgrade the skate park has circulated in town for some time. In 2013, resident John Eikens created the “Reboot Highlands Skatepark” Facebook page hoping to address “years of neglect” and damage to the park following Super Storm Sandy. It now has 191 likes and 195 followers.

“The park was really unsafe. The ramps – every year they would move them for the Clam Fest, and every time they moved them, they would just get more and more damaged,” Eikens told The Two River Times in September. He said a revamp could be “financially good” for the town due to the tourism it could bring.

The Eikens family, including their young son Jack Eikens, spoke to the then-mayor and council about the importance of upgrading the park years ago. When elected officials seemed uninterested, they contacted the company that built the Long Branch skate park and ideas were drafted from there, but at the time, “the town wasn’t really behind it,” he said. The new mayor, Carolyn Broullon, and current governing body see it otherwise, he added.

Reflecting on the Dec. 6 meeting, Broullon said she thinks the discussion was “fantastic.”

“It is so amazing to watch a group of like-minded individuals come together in a visioning session,” she said. “Their input will really help shape the park for all skaters.”

The article originally appeared in the Dec. 9 – 15, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.