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 * Supporters show up for skate park**


 * Rec Dept.’s planning criticized**


 * By Joel Banner Baird**

//Free Press Staff Writer//

Dozens of skateboarding advocates voiced their sup­port Monday night at the Burlington City Council for a proposed concrete park.

Delivered over the course of an hour and a half, the comments came on the heels of a Board of Finance meet­ing at which city funding strategies for parks facilities came under criticism.

The new skate-park fa­cility is estimated to cost $400,000 to $940,000. It is designed to replace the de­crepit wood and steel skate park near the Moran plant on Burlington’s waterfront.

Supporters of the larger structure who spoke at Mon­day’s meeting, some of them as young as 8 years old,


 * BURLINGTON**

lauded the sport’s growing appeal and the potential of a new skate park to attract more visitors to Burlington.

“You show me a good skate park, and I’ll show you a town that cares about its community,” resident David Wood said.

The City Council ap­proved the Parks and Recre­ation Department’s use of “Penny for Parks” money in June. The resolution didn’t mention funding for the skate park — but $150,000 for the project had been in­cluded in a staff budget breakdown.

At Monday’s Board of Fi­nance meeting, Councilor Karen Paul, I-Ward 6, who supports a skate park, said she had been told by mem­bers of the Community and Economic Development Of­fice that no city money would be required for the project.

The absence of a deliber­ative process with the Parks and Recreation Commission regarding the issue warrants a re-examination of the proj­ect, she said.

Resident Tim Jarvis, who attended the Board of Fi­nance meeting, called on the council to scrutinize the de­partment’s long-term plan­ning.

No members of the public criticized the skate park, but several faulted the project for paving over more of the city’s green space and sug­gested the structure might be located where its noise would affect fewer resi­dents.

Resident Rory Waterman, who also had attended the Board of Finance meeting, cautioned the council against expensive projects that might sideline mainte­nance on established facili­ties. Adding to the length of the public comment period were periodic, chanted proc­lamations of solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, whose members have been camping in City Hall Park for more than a week.

In other city business, the council updated some of the rules governing its meetings. Among the most conten­tious under consideration: a measure that would have prohibited councilors from using electronic devices during the public forums.

Councilor Ed Adrian, D-Ward 1 and a prolific user of Twitter, led the opposition and prevailed. The final vote against the resolution was 7-6. Adrian termed the at­tempt to shape councilors’ behavior a slippery slope.

“You’re legislating speech; you’re legislating how people communicate with each other,” he said. “People should not make as­sumptions about what peo­ple are or are not absorb­ing.”