Mayor Jay Gillian unlocked the gates to the newly constructed Cape May County Skateboard Park in Ocean City at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 24) and within minutes word began to spread about the long-awaited opening of the state-of-the-art concrete facility.
The park is open to the public at no charge from 9 a.m. to dusk daily and subject to a set of rules (with violations resulting in suspension of privileges).
The opening of the facility marks the fulfillment of a promise by the city administration to replace a smaller skateboard park that was closed by the city in 2011 due to safety concerns.
The project cost a little less than $750,000, and the city will be reimbursed $500,000 from a Green Acres Cape May County Recreation Grant that was announced in September 2014. City Council had already approved a capital plan that calls for borrowing $250,000 for the balance of the project.
For the record, the first skaters in the new park were Flynn DeVlieger, 12; Reagan DeVlieger, 10; and Chase Palermo, 9.
First Ward Councilman Mike DeVlieger spearheaded a planning committee that organized the effort to create the park.
At a City Council meeting later on Thursday, DeVlieger thanked the groups that helped the cause, including the Cape May County Open Space Committee, the mayor and administration, City Council, former Business Administrator Mike Dattilo, the skateboard committee, the neighboring Ecumenical Council Clothes Closet, Ocean City Tabernacle and Ocean City Primary School, and all the neighbors who did and did not support the park (it’s a better facility for their input, he said).
“It’s a world-class park,” DeVlieger said.
He said he’s working to bring a contest to the park to raise money for charity and to demonstrate that it can be a draw that helps local businesses.
Local skaters Steve Beseris, Chris Pustizzi, Rob Kelly and Frank Faverzani were close behind in testing out the new bowl and snake run on Thursday, and within another hour, the park was crowded with skaters.
“Drive by the park and I guarantee it will be filled with kids with smiles on their faces,” DeVlieger said.
