Skate Park Funding in Proposed Budget

Parks and recreation committee chair Mary Fuller said the parks and recreation department and committee are working toward bringing a jointly-owned skate park to Lansdale Borough in the area of on Moyer Road.

At the town hall session last month, Fuller said money is in the proposed parks and recreation budget for 2012 to help begin the process.

Fuller proposed the idea for a skate park for the borough

"We will work in conjunction with Hatfield Township," she said. "Lansdale will take the steps to make that happen."

"If Hatfield is truly not interested, we will look at another site," she said.

There is speculation that the borough is interested in a residential-zoned vacant 31,650-square-foot lot for sale in Hatfield Township on Moyer Road, which abuts the park and a residential property at 1285 Moyer Road. Both properties are owned by Nancy Lattanzi, according to Montgomery County records.

There is an interest from Hatfield Township to cooperate with Lansdale on this venture. However, the big issue is money.

Hatfield Township Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Stock said there is no money budgeted in 2012 for a skate park.

She said there are very limited resources for doing captial improvement projects in the park system.

"We didn't get a , like Lansdale did. That's the difference," Stock said. 

A commitment like a skate park would be an expensive project that would have to come from the top: the parks and recreation committee would need to recommend it to the commissioners.

"We have wanted to partner with Lansdale at Schweiker Park for a skate project at some time, but money and land are key questions that need to be answered," Stock said. "We would be very interested in being a cooperative partner in a project to accomplish something like that."

She said it would not be fair to ask Lansdale to carry Hatfield Township; both municipalities should be equal partners.

"You have a partner and one has resoruces and other doesn't. Do you hold the partner back or step aside graciously and let the partner proceed? It will all be up to how much flexibility Lansdale has in terms of waiting for us to catch up or if they are in a position to move forward and we are holding them back. We don't want that to be the outcome," Stock said.

Fuller said that should the borough have to go elsewhere, it needs to consider visibility.

"Otherwise, it is hard to keep tabs on activities going on," she said. "The more visible the park can be, the better an eye can be kept on vandalism and untowardly behavior going on."