Long-awaited skate park coming to Wilmington, city says

The News Journal

Nearly two decades after plans were first proposed, Wilmington will get a new skate park near I-95, city officials announced Wednesday.

The park will not be underneath the highway as proposed in a plan that was in place as late as last winter, but on a triangular piece of land next to it, between Linden and Liberty streets and the Amtrak train tracks.

The land will be given to the city from the state Department of Transportation, pending City Council approval, city officials said in a news release.

A plot of land owned by the state of Delaware and bordered by the Wilmington Rail Viaduct, Liberty and Linden Streets and Interstate 95 in the city will become a skate park under an agreement struck 18 years after a facility was first proposed.

Skateboarding enthusiasts have long wanted a skate park in the city, and parks department director Kevin Kelley proposed it in 2001 when he was a city councilman to give opportunities to city youth.

"We want to help kids — keep them off the street," he told The News Journal in 2001.

His first proposal was on 30,000 square feet near Frawley Stadium. It then went through location changes, private fundraising attempts and taxpayer funded redesigns.

Former Mayor Dennis Williams supported a park under I-95, getting in contact with DelDOT and having a $1.8 million design drawn.

But he never signed a lease agreement between the city and the transportation agency for the land before he left office.

Last year, The News Journal reported DelDOT needed the land for rehabilitation of I-95.

Background:Long-awaited Wilmington skate park 'not happening'

Now, the city will use $600,000 granted by state legislators for the previous plan to construct a "scaled back" park on the new land, said John Rago, Mayor Mike Purzycki's deputy chief of staff for policy and communications.

Former Mayor Dennis P. Williams held an event in the fall of 2015 to celebrate the Wilmington skate project moving forward. At the time, the project was not fully funded.

Purzycki last year said he was "agnostic" about a skate park, but in a news release Wednesday praised Kelley and others who "never gave up hope."

Anthony Santoro, a longtime advocate for a new skate park, said he's disappointed at how much smaller it will be than planned because the city won't be adding its own dollars toward the project.

He's the former president of the Wilmington Skate Project, which raised funds for the 7th Street Peninsula skate park, and said the old proposal would have been attracted professional skaters and contributed to the city's economic growth.

Anthony Santoro, former president of the Wilmington Skate Project, in December 2017 at a proposed skate park under I-95 that had been in the planning stages for more than 15 years.

"It would have been a destination," Santoro said of the never-fully-funded old plan. "We committed to a $1.8 million project, there was a ceremony for it. This is a consolation prize."

Still, after the failure of the old plan, Santoro said he "couldn't be happier" for the opportunity a new park will present to local youth.

"When it's done I'll be there, cleaning up when I can and encouraging skaters," he said.

The city will accept bids for the park's design, which will be a street plaza course with a bowl, officials said. They hope to start construction this September.

"It may have taken longer than any of us expected, but soon people of all ages will enjoy a new city recreational facility that will feature a long overdue skate park," Kelley said in a news release.

Rago said the upcoming construction project on I-95 won't affect the park.

Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com.

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