Riverhead Skate Park will reopen by Memorial Day after almost $50k in repairs

It’s been more than a year since the deteriorating Riverhead Skate Park was shut down indefinitely, but this summer, the area’s only skate park will reopen to the public after the completion of extensive repairs.

“It should be back up by Memorial Day,” said Ray Coyne, Riverhead parks and recreation superintendent, in an interview today. “Everything’s been set in motion.”

Years of neglect and lack of maintenance left the park in such a state of disrepair that last spring, town officials decided it was no longer safe to use. Damaged boards and ramps could injure a skater and pose a liability to the town, Coyne explained in an interview last year.

But repairs are now underway this month at the skate park. Ringing in at about $48,000, the repairs are being funded by park and recreation fees, which are generated by new development in the town.

“The repairs came in a little under what we were expecting,” Coyne said.

Repair materials were ordered April 8. They should arrive within the week, Coyne said, and then installation can begin. He expects the park to be open again by Memorial Day weekend.

The nearly $50,000 in repairs has taken a large chunk out of the department’s fund balance for the year, leaving about $120,000 for other projects. With a number of other town parks in dire need of repairs and improvements, Coyne had not been sure if the skate park would be reopened this year.

Less than 1.1 percent of the town’s population uses the skate park, Coyne has said, and 75 percent of those using the park are not Riverhead residents.

“You’ve got to look at it from that point of view – what’s the park that’s going to satisfy the most residents?” Coyne said in an interview in February.

But the parks and recreation department has decided to prioritize the skate park this year.

With the remaining fund balance of $120,000, the department will have enough to install a state-of-the-art playground at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton, which should cost around $88,000. The playground will be located next to the dog park and will also be open by this summer. It will eventually be enhanced with tennis, racquetball, pickleball and basketball courts, Coyne said.

After repairs to the skate park and the installation of the new playground in Calverton, Coyne says there should be about $30,000 left in the parks and recreation fund balance.

“I know there’s so many different parks that need upgrades,” he said today. “I know Bayberry Park in Wading River is in need of a playground as well. But we need to go by density, we need to priotize, and we’re slowly but surely putting in the upgrades as many places as we can.”