For Hunter Crawford, the Spirit Skate Park in Hopkinton is more than a recreational space. It\u2019s been a place to make lasting friendships.<\/p>\n
Crawford\u00a0has spent countless after-school hours boarding on the ramps of\u00a0the park, located on the grounds of Hopkinton Middle High School. In the summer, he would ride his bike there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always there and I\u2019ve learned a lot there,\u201d said Crawford, now 24. \u201cThe skate park used to be my home away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
But\u00a0the park\u00a0has changed since his teenage years, gradually showing the effects of natural wear and tear.<\/p>\n
With significant structural issues posing a threat to safety, the town is exploring options and discussing the future of the 20-year-old facility.<\/p>\n
One potential solution under consideration is a redesign proposal from the American Ramp Company, with an estimated cost of $468,000, excluding pad resurfacing. Another option is to explore estimates for metal-framed or concrete ramps, or even consider replacing ramps individually with a different company as needed.<\/p>\n
If renovation proves impractical, another option is to maintain the existing wooden ramps until they are no longer usable. If\u00a0maintenance efforts prove insufficient to restore the park to a functional state, the next step involves relocating the ramps and other components to the transfer station.<\/p>\n
The skate park opened in 2003 in memory of two Hopkinton friends, Rob Carr and Jake Shumway. Their lives were cut short when a snow cave collapsed, burying them under snow.<\/p>\n
The Spirit Skate Park has become a communal haven for both residents and visitors from neighboring towns without skate parks.<\/p>\n
Funding for the project is also an important part of the decision-making process.<\/p>\n
Options include full funding by taxpayers or having the select board commit to a specific amount while seeking the remainder through community fundraising over a year.<\/p>\n
If the decision is made to pursue fundraising, after securing the total amount, the town would then request the company to proceed with a design revision, following the budgetary constraints set by the secured funds.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Crawford has seen the skate park lose many obstacles. Instead of fixing the broken parts, the town would just remove them, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it all needs to go,\u201d said Crawford. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a good place. Our town is really lucky to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For Hunter Crawford, the Spirit Skate Park in Hopkinton is more than a recreational space. It\u2019s been a place to make lasting friendships.Crawford\u00a0has spent countless after-school hours boarding on the ramps of\u00a0the park, located on the grounds of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":9487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=553]Sruthi Gopalakrishnan[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[508,12],"tags":[24,189,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[506],"class_list":["post-9486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-headlines-cm","category-town-city-government","tag-facebook","tag-hopkinton-nh","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42662546-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9486"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=9486"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}