The city is considering restricting the hours of use for the Lincoln Park Skate Park due to complaints of excess noise by area residents. — Photo courtesy of Spohn Ranch Skate Parks

By Jim Clark

An order was put forward members of the Somerville Board of Aldermen at their latest meeting last week asking the Board’s Committee on Legislative Matters to consider amending Ordinance 12-48, relating to the hours of operation of skate parks.

The intent of the order, co-sponsored by Alderman At-Large Mary Jo Rossetti and Alderman At-Large Stephanie Hirsch, was to engage in conversation about the ordinance as a response in part to concerns expressed by constituents who reside near these parks.

“We all received communication from a group of constituents who wanted to have discussion with us about the ordinance that’s in place,” Rossetti said. “I suggested that we’re willing to talk, of course, any time anywhere. So I would ask this to go to the Legislative Matters Committee as I had worded to order.”

The discussion in general is focused on the recently renovated Lincoln Park, which includes facilities for skate boarding, and the possible restrictions on its use for such activity.

In a comment submitted to the Board in relation to this order, one area resident stated the following: “The skate park, and the redesign of Lincoln Park as a whole, was the subject of extensive public discussion and stakeholder input. My perception is that this effort to obtain BOA intervention on the skate park is not reflective of the broad range of stakeholders that were involved in the original decisions about Lincoln park. I strongly encourage the BOA to carefully consider all of the stakeholders invested in Lincoln Park in general and the skate park in particular before making any policy decisions based on the pressure of a vocal minority. The skate park represents a significant public investment that was the result of a transparent and public process and proposals to impose unique restrictions on access to it should be subject to rigorous scrutiny.”

Another resident submitted a similar response to the agenda item: ” I love the newly remodeled Lincoln Park. I live adjacent to Lincoln Park, overlooking the skate park, and I walk through the Park most evenings on my route home from work. I am not bothered by the noise, and really value using the park, and seeing such a wide range of people enjoy the space.”

“I am concerned about item 11, which targets one specific recreation activity (using the skateboard park) and suggests limiting people from engaging this activity by enacting different hours than the rest of the park facilities.”

“Given the listening sessions, community design meetings, and other public meetings that were held in 2015-16 to design the park, I hope the BOA carefully consider that there were community members who gave feedback approving of redesigning the park with a skate park, and there are many community members who currently benefit from recreating at the skate park. Somerville taxpayer dollars have funded the creation and will fund the maintenance of this park, so I hope the BOA use caution when limiting the use of this publicly funded space.”

Ward 6 Alderman Lance Davis went on the record as opposing any changes in the skating hours. “In my opinion, it’s unlikely that this is specifically a noise issue,” said Davis. “As one of the constituents pointed out today, there are many other uses of the park that generate noise.”

Davis closed his remarks by saying, “I walk around the city – and I’ve made this point on the chair when we’re talking about Union Square in the Land Use Committee – you see the brackets that they put everywhere so people can’t skateboard here, can’t skateboard there. One of the places where that conversation ends up is well, let’s build more skateboard parks so people have a place to go. So when we do that, I’m not interested in any conversation that suggests that we should limit the hours for that particular use compared to other uses.”

Davis also added that skateboarding is not a crime.

Alderman Hirsch weighed in on the matter by saying, “From my perspective, having a front row seat at this park, the skateboard park, the planning process for this park started in 2011 and there was a huge argument about whether or not to put a large artificial turf, and an ice skating rink with a Zamboni shack. And that was many, many meetings. There was lots of arguing and then that was tabled and there was a reboot of the Lincoln Park renovation and then many, many more meetings, and those renovation meetings were taken up one hundred percent by the field surface question. This was very divisive in the community. So when the final designs came to the community, I believe there was only one or two meetings where those were talked about. They were not at all vetted. And from my observation, there was really not opportunity for those neighbors to chime in, and it was kind of done with this – like we’ve spent, now, you know – seven years planning this. To move ahead it’s going to be a problem but we’re going to go ahead and we’ll have to apologize years later. And I don’t think we should treat – you know, there’s a public benefit to having a skate park. Wonderful people love it. There are abutters in every situation. And when there are abutters six feet from something that’s super loud, I think it’s definitely worth talking to them and listening to them and saying OK, you’re bearing this public good. How do we help you live with this and not feel miserable?”

Hirsch emphasized that neighbors who are experiencing noise issue due to their proximity to the park should be villainized.

Ward 1 Alderman Matthew McLaughlin stated that he wants to flag his concern as someone who got involved in Somerville politics based on defending kids from getting kicked out of the playground because neighbors didn’t want them there.

McLaughlin described instances of skate parks being established in the city, only to be curtailed and restricted by those who oppose them. He stated that he would not be supporting the order at the present time.

The item was approved and referred to the Legislative Matters Committee for further study.