BENNINGTON – Fundraising efforts for a planned skate park off Depot Street in the downtown could get a boost from a matching grant from the state, town Community Development program Director Shannon Barsotti told the Select Board this week.
Barsotti received board approval to apply for a state Better Places program grant that is expected to provide $60,000 in total toward the project’s $916,000 estimated cost figure.
She said the state would double the amount crowd-sourced by the town and its partner in the project, a volunteer group of local enthusiasts and architectural, engineering and other professionals. Among those are principals with MSK Engineering and Geoff Metcalfe of Keefe & Wesner Architects.
The goal is for $20,000 to be raised through the local crowd-sourcing effort, which would then receive a $40,000 match from the state program.
Barsotti said the crowd-funding drive, in which local volunteers will work with Patronicity to create an online platform to accept donations, is expected to begin May 1 and must be completed in 60 days.
She added that there is a requirement that the full $20,000 must be raised to secure the matching state funds.
“But we have two full months, so I feel confident we will,” she said.
Project funding plan
The town has received its project estimate from GRINDLINE Skateparks Inc., a firm that has designed some 250 skate parks in the U.S. and other countries.
In January, the Select Board approved a funding plan for what would be phase one of the park project, which includes the use of $300,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief funding the town received; and $300,000 from the town’s Penny For Parks fund – funded through a 1 cent per $100 of valuation charge on the annual property tax rate, which derives about $100,000 a year for parks-related projects.
Another $300,000 is being raised by the Bennington Skate Park committee, which is working with fundraising consultant Christine Graham, president of CPG Enterprises, on that effort.
If the $60,000 is raised as expected through the state grant match program, that money will go toward the total being raised by the skatepark committee volunteers.
Information about the project design details and on how to donate to that effort can be found on the project webpage on town’s website.
The hope is that construction on the shaped-concrete park off the southern end of the town parking lot off Deport Street will begin in 2024.
A proposed second phase of the skatepark project, which would require another authorization to proceed from the Select Board, was estimated earlier this year to cost $700,000. It would include a building to cover a section of the park surface, which would allow use in colder weather.
Other features that have been discussed include a snack vendor, restrooms, and office and storage space.
The project planners envision a 16,000-square-foot shaped concrete park surface, which would make it approximately the size of a similar park in Manchester.
The state’s only larger skate park, in Burlington, is about 20,000 square feet in size.