Town of Islip Officials Break Ground on Brentwood Skate Park

BRENTWOOD, NY — Construction has officially begun for a highly-anticipated skate park in Brentwood.

Supervisor Angie Carpenter, New York State Assemblyman Phil Ramos and other Town of Islip officials broke ground on the skate park at Roberto Clemente Park on Friday, while also announcing plans for a new, sensory-driven playground for the autistic.

"What we're doing today is symbolic of the resilience of our community," said Ramos. "We made a pledge that we would build back better, and that's what we're seeing here."

According to a representative, the project is anticipated to be completed between 60 to 90 days, weather permitting.

Last month, the Islip town board passed a resolution to approve a change of zone to apply for and accept $450,000 in grant funding from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York for the construction of the Roberto Clemente Skate Park.

The resolution comes after Ramos announced he could garner the funding.

The Assemblyman also obtained separate grant money, of $100,000 for the purchase and installation of new energy efficient windows in the gymnasium at the Brentwood Recreation Center.

In addition to the skate park, officials unveiled a new turf field at the CI Community Park, also made possible in part by another $500,000 New York State grant secured by the assemblyman.

The turf field is a multi-purpose field, and will be used for soccer, lacrosse, and football, among other activities.

"It has always been my goal to give this park back to the community with facilities and amenities where generations of families and friends can gather, making lasting memories," Carpenter recently told Patch.

Plans for the skate park were originally approved in 2019. But when the pandemic hit, the project came to a halt.

Carpenter told Patch that she intended to pass a resolution in March to continue the construction.

However, with increasing costs of materials due to the pandemic and recent inflation, the town no longer had enough finances in its budget to construct the park, she said — and the town attorney advised tabling the matter.

In May, 2021, the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James delivered $627,000 to the Town of Islip from eight companies involved in illegal dumping of toxic waste in the park. The funds were intended to "be used to improve public park facilities in the Brentwood community, including Roberto Clemente Park."

However, Carpenter said that the town was unable to use the money for a skate park, as the funds were only authorized for use by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Ramos told Patch he was inspired to garner the project's funding after high school student Alberto Melgar created a petition with more than 1,000 signatures, aiming to obtain the settlement money.

"In a classic case of environmental racism, we've been able to invest $2 million to put the spray park there, we invested over $1 million to clean up," said Ramos. "So this skate park is just another phase of building back bigger and better ."