Supervisors Not Eager For Fence At Skate Park

A fence won’t be put up around the Newtown Skate Park anytime soon.

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors on Wednesday decided not to move forward on an idea to install a fence around the skate park, which is located behind Staples off the Newtown Bypass.

Chairman Rob Ciervo was in favor of the fence, which Township Manager Joe Czajkowski said would cost between $7,000 and $9,000, for the purposes of enforcement.

“Almost every skate park I’ve been to, there is fencing,” Ciervo said, adding he was a skater for 20-plus years. “Just going to a skate park was fine with me,” he said, adding he didn't mind if it was fenced in.

But not everyone on the board was in agreement and said the expenditure should follow the protocol for capital projects that exceed $5,000.

Capital expenditures that exceed $5,000 go before the township's financial planning committee, explained Supervisor Michael Gallagher.  “We have a process that we generally follow. My suggestion is we integrate the fence into that process," Gallagher said. "To do anything else would be getting too far outside of our procedures.”

“We need to start looking at Newtown Skate Park as part of the municipal park system,” Gallagher added.

The skate park was reopened earlier this month after being closed in March due to noise complaints from residents of the Tyler Walk community. The township worked to install noise reduction measures, including spray foam and enclosures.

However, at a meeting last month, a few Tyler Walk residents approached the board to say the noise was still an issue – but not the only issue. They said they suspected that illegal behavior, including drug use, was taking place at the park.

At that meeting, Newtown Township Police Chief Rick Pasqualini said he personally visits the park on a daily basis and there was one confiscation of a small amount of marijuana since the park opened in October 2010.

However, as a solution to the issue of people trespassing into the park afterhours, the supervisors said they would look into the possibility of a fence for enforcement purposes.

Czajkowski said a few residents have come forward to donate services or funds to be used towards the fence.  A representative from a professional fencing company offered to install the fence free of charge. Additionally, a few people have come forward to offer what totals about $2,000 in donations towards the fence.

The total cost to the township for the fence would likely be $6,000 to $7,000 after donations are taken into consideration, Czajkowski said.

Even still, a majority of the board was not in agreement that the fence is an essential component to the park – at least in the near future. “It’s important to make sure we’re spending on the most important things,” said supervisor Matthew Benchener.

Supervisor Phillip Calabro said while there are pros and cons to installing a fence, he was unclear as to exactly what the fence would accomplish. 

“What are we containing? Maybe a skateboard going a few feet beyond the pad. Keeping out a bad element is not going to happen,” Calabro said, adding that community policing would be a more effective approach to handling the issues raised by some residents.

Ciervo stood by his position. “I think (a fence) can solve some problems,” he said. Plus, he noted, if the idea gets pushed to the back burner and into next year’s budget process, offers for donations might not extend into that timeframe.

The board agreed to have Parks and Recreation Director Kathy Pawlenko look into putting a fence on next year’s budget as a capital request.