East Haven Plans to Construct Skate Park

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

EAST HAVEN, CT — Armed with a $200,000 state grant, East Haven is planning to construct a 10,500-square-foot skate park and basketball court at the Joseph Melillo Middle School.

Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. said the sporting complex should be ready for play this June.

Maturo said, "For some time now, residents have requested that we build a skate park to give our children a safe place to congregate and skate. We are thrilled to announce this project, especially because it is being made possible through a state grant and at no direct cost to the taxpayers."

The skate park, which will include a custom poured concrete bowl, ramp, rails, and other elements will comprise approximately 6,500 square feet and will be complemented by a regulation basketball court.

Maturo said, "The Town is about to begin a sidewalk installation project on North High Street that will connect Route 80 to the center of Town. With this skate park conveniently and centrally located at the middle school complex, children and residents will be able to bike or skate safely from any part of Town to the complex."

The Town is pursuing this project through the newly-created "Priority Capital Project" program of the Mayor's Office, which was formed to quickly identify and fulfill small to medium-sized capital projects directly through the Mayor's office.

Maturo explained, "Residents frequently come in my office and ask for small streetscape, landscaping, and recreational improvements. For quite some time, we've had to show restraint and put those projects on hold for budgetary reasons. However, with our finances stabilized, we've created this "wish list" capital program which we intend to run directly out of the Mayor's office to make meaningful quality of life improvements around Town."

Although there is no specific line item for priority capital improvements in the current budget, the Town has obtained a $200,000 grant through the State's "Local Capital Improvement Program" (LOCIP) to finance the combination skate park and basketball complex.

Maturo said, "We've spent the last five years squaring away our finances and reducing our debt to historically low levels. Residents have been patient as we've shown restraint and made tough choices. Now, we want to reward everyone by starting to complete some of the projects we've put off. This project, which has been widely requested, is just the first of many exciting quality of life improvements that residents can expect to see around Town."