MANSFIELD — A $200,000 plan to build a new skate park and install new playground equipment at Maple Lake Park appears to be closer to fruition after a public hearing on the topic Tuesday evening.
Mark Abrams, the city’s parks and recreation department manager, showed a potential design for the 3,000-square foot concrete facility, answered questions from City Council and listened to positive comments from residents who attended the session.
No council members expressed opposition to the proposal after questions were answered about location, design, liability and costs. Council at its June 4 meeting approved spending $25,000 for the design, engineering and cost estimate of the proposal.
That $25,000 is included in the overall cost of the project.
Abrams said he would return to council at its next meeting on July 2 with proposed legislation to fully fund the proposal and also enter into a contract for the skate park with Spohn Ranch Skateparks in California.
Abrams said he hoped to have the project approved at the next council meeting, which will be the lawmakers’ only July meeting.
Finance committee chairman Jon Van Harlingen, who represents the 3rd Ward (which includes the park), cautioned final approval may not happen that night.
“Any time the city has a capital project, I am just a little bit of a fanatic there needs to be three readings. We have the news media here, they have done a great job of covering it. This public hearing is a good thing … I am just sitting here thinking how much coverage and how many chances the public had to have to comment and contact their elected officials,” Van Harlingen said.
The finance chair didn’t rule out final passage, given the fact the issue has now been discussed at two separate council meetings.
MANSFIELD RISING: During his presentation, Abrams said he discussed the skate park idea with the Richland County Foundation this spring. Such a park is found in the Mansfield Rising (Page 28) downtown investment plan developed by local residents and explained earlier this year by Richland Source in its “Ideas of March” series.
The proposal calls for spending $135,000 to $150,000 on the skate park and $50,000 to $65,000 on new playground equipment at the park, located on the city’s west side.
Funds for the project will come from the city’s PRIDE tax, first approved by voters in 2014 and renewed in 2017. It generates about $3.7 million annually, with 50 percent going to the police and fire departments, 22 percent to parks and recreation, 20 percent to building demolition and eight percent to lighting.
Abrams told council his department has saved the money for such a project over the last five years. He said he also with met with local skate park enthusiasts to discuss the project and potential designs.
He said Maple Lake is a good location with an open, level field ready for development and ample parking. He said the park also has basketball courts, tennis courts and the playground, which will have new equipment.
He said the skate park would cost between $132,000 and $150,000, depending on soil samples and design modifications. He said Spohn Ranch Skateparks offered designs ranging in price from $120,000 to $400,000.
Van Harlingen said residents had asked why the parks department wants to build a new skate park instead of spending more money on maintenance of existing facilities.
Abrams said work on current parks is ongoing.
“The everyday grind of fixing up parks doesn’t draw a crowd and we don’t have public hearings about it. When we do things (like the skate park), people hear more things about than the day-to-day operations that we do. we realize we still have a lot of work to do. We’re getting there, slowly but surely,” Abrams said.
“Sometimes the bigger projects kind of overshadow what we’re doing that’s not so attractive,” he said.
NOT LIABLE: During the June 4 meeting, some council members asked about the city’s liability in the event a skate park user is injured. Law Director John Spon said state law protects public and private entities with such facilities under “recreational immunity,” provided there is no admission charge.
Van Harlingen also asked why North Lake Park, which once had a wooden skate park, was not selected for the new facility.
Abrams said, “North Lake Park is kind of off grid for everything until (the dry) dam project (now on hold) either goes forward or it doesn’t because that takes up the majority of the space we would have to build down there.”
Abrams also said Maple Lake Park has “a tradition of being neutral territory where people (from anywhere in the city) can gather and have a good time.”
“If you’re a kid, you can make it to where you want to play. The whole argument that kids can’t make it there doesn’t hold a lot of water with me,” he said.
Abrams also said he would like to consider adding lights as the park is developed, extending its usage hours. He said the park could be used by skateboarders, BMX bikers and roller-blade enthusiasts.
“Anything that has wheels on it you can use in this,” he said.
Mansfield resident Aurelio Diaz, one of the residents who spoke in favor of the proposal, agreed the park is a neutral location.
“Kids do go there from all over, whether the north end or the south side,” Diaz said, also pointing out he had seen comments on social media how the skate park would cater to a certain demographic and from a certain area.
“That’s like the elephant in the room,” he said. “As far as why so many people think it would cater to a specific class … that’s so ridiculous.”
In other action Tuesday, council:
— adjourned into executive session at the request of Van Harlingen for the purpose of “preventive security reasons that we may be facing in the near future.” Council did not discuss the closed-door session after it returned to public session.
– approved demolition of four dilapidated structures at 42 Sherman Ave., 156 Bartley Ave., 161 W. Fifth St. and 1109 Wyandotte Ave.
— amended the city’s ordinance regarding false alarm offenses for businesses and residences. Fines of $40 per each false alarm, after three such alarms, will now be done on a rolling calendar year, instead of starting over each year on March 1. Council discussed briefly raising the amount of the fines, but took no action on it.
— voted to create a downtown improvements capital fund that will be fueled by the additional $5 license plate tax, approved by council in 2018, collections of which began Jan. 1. The city’s finance department estimated the city will receive $188,744 in 2019 from the fund. Council had previously approved spending $18,000 from the collected fees to help pay for the two-way conversion of Mulberry Street, a project that has begun.
— conducted a first reading of an appropriation of $32,300 from the unappropriated general fund to the human resources department, for ID badge software update ($800), network ID card printer ($4,000), and union contract negotiations consultants ($27,500).
— accepted and appropriated a $305 donation from S/C Parties, LLC, to be used for the City’s Parks and Recreation Department “Summer Fun in the Parks” program.
— accepted and appropriated a $435 donation from Mansfield Association of Realtors to be used for the City’s Parks and Recreation Department at Liberty Pool.
— voted to accept a $4,200 grant from the Richland County Foundation for the purpose of hiring an intern in the Community Development Department.
–voted to accept funding from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for the Probation Improvement and Incentive Program in the amount of $365,696.
— voted to accept a Community Corrections Act Grant in the amount of $259,504, authorizing the Safety-Service Director to execute a Subsidy Grant Agreement for Community-Based Corrections Programs with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
— adopted a tax budget for the Township of Mansfield and the City of Mansfield, starting Jan. 1, 2020, which must be submitted to the Richland County Auditor’s Office.
