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Date: 7/5/2022
EASTHAMPTON – The Parks and Recreation Commission and Easthampton Skatepark advocates are currently at an impasse over where an all-wheels park could go.
After a two-hour meeting on June 23, the commission and advocates came to the decision that preliminary designs would be considered for three different locations before the groups reconvene in August for a possible vote on the final spot.
Advocates want the new park to be located at the spot where the city’s first skate park was placed-what is now known as Millside Park. According to Easthampton Skatepark organizer Angie Falkowski, the advocates met with the mill owners and organizer of millpond live to see if they would support a skate park where the old one was. The owners agreed that it would bring more life to the area and allow more opportunity for lighting, power, working bathrooms and seating.
The Parks and Recreation Commission, however, would like to consider other sites before a decision is made. The city’s Planning Department began considering Millside Park after the last potential spot behind City Hall featured contaminated soil.
“Considering other options is not some nefarious scheme,” said Paul St. Pierre, the chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission. “It’s our due diligence that we have to do to look at all of the options.”
Skatepark advocates went into the June 23 meeting expecting the Parks and Recreation Commission to only consider the location at Millside where the old park used to be, especially since an outline of the desired park was already spray painted prior to the meeting. However, the commission wanted to consider other locations before landing on one.
St. Pierre stated during the meeting that he expects economic growth from a skate park, as more and more skaters from outside Easthampton would visit and spend money. Despite this positive, St. Pierre also argued that a skate park in Millside would change the overall makeup and spirit of the entire park, and he felt that the process of choosing a skate park was “not smooth or respectful” at that point.
“Building a skate park here, it would change [Millside] park … but it absolutely could be successful,” said St. Pierre. “On the other hand, there would be some drawbacks. It would change the character of this park from being a passive recreation park, as it was designed, to have an active recreation component.”
St. Pierre also added that the yoga and fitness classes would not want to continue their sessions at Millside if a skatepark was added, because it would “change the dynamic of the park.”
“Another potential site that we like to look further at is very close by,” said St. Pierre. “It’s part of the mill district. It has many of the same benefits as [the Millside] location and its larger.”
Before entering the public speak portion, St. Pierre summoned city officials and advocates to this other location near the Manhan Rail Trail behind the Pleasant Street mills. A few advocates noted they were caught off guard by this new location suggestion.
Upon returning to the meeting location, Nance MacDonald came forward to speak in favor of the skate park being built where the old one used to be at Millside. Twenty-five years ago, she, along with her husband Bob, raised money for a park to be built in honor of their son, David, who died in an automobile accident in 1997. The park was torn down and given away by the city at the time.
MacDonald mentioned how money was raised for a new skate park at Millside shortly after the original one in honor of her son was torn down. The grant money, however, was never used to build the new skate park at the time.
“We were told to put the kids in a dump ground, now you’re going to put them in a swamp,” MacDonald said.
Some advocates spoke out against St. Pierre’s original statement at the beginning of the meeting, claiming that there were some inconsistencies to what he was saying. Falkowski challenged St. Pierre’s claims that the organizers only reached out to the Parks and Recreation Commission two months ago. She argued that organizers reached out to Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, City Planner Jeff Bagg and Parks and Recreation Director John Mason back in 2018 to pitch the initial idea for a park.
“You also said we didn’t do our homework and look at other locations,” said Falkowski. “We needed to look at other locations, and that’s why we thought [Millside] would be a good location.”
Anja Duffy, a landscape architect from Holyoke, spoke in favor of the Millside Park location, and noted that she recently worked on a skatepark in Springfield. “I happen to know that skateparks go hand-in-hand with basketball, as well as other recreational sports,” Duffy said. “This park [Millside] doesn’t seem like a passive park to me. This is the best spot for a skatepark.”
During his time for public comment, Bagg, who has been instrumental in helping this process move forward, listed the other rejected locations the city looked at including, Mountain View School, Easthampton High School parking lot, Center Pepin Elementary Schools, Parsons Street school parcel and others.
According to Bagg, Platform Group, the Tampa-based custom skate park design firm tasked with assisting Easthampton on this project, developed new designs for three possible locations at Nonotuck Park-Daley Field, one adjacent to the pickle ball courts and one adjacent to pavilion one.
The desired location, however, is Millside Park due to its history. According to Bagg, there were plans in 2005 prepared by the city regarding Millside’s future with a 10,000 square foot skate park part of that makeup. Those plans were approved by the Conservation Commission in 2006, but a grant was awarded in 2008 for Millside that did not include the skate park.
“Part of the goal for looking [at Millside] was the history of this location,” said Bagg. “The one question I did want to truly and respectfully ask is to help understand who has the design intent of this park. Where is that documented? That is not clear in looking at the park’s intent and who has access to this.”
Ultimately, the Parks and Recreation Commission and skate park advocates decided to reconvene in August. The Planning Department and advocates will provide preliminary designs for Daley Field, Millside Park, as well as the ditch adjacent to Millside Park.