Elon’s town council has given a kick start to a state grant application that could ultimately double the funds which the town has available to develop a skate park off of University Drive.
The council voted 5-to-0 on Tuesday to proceed with this application to the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF, which routinely distributes funds for recreation facilities throughout the state.
According to town manager Richard Roedner, the town plans to seek $374,000 from the trust fund in order to set up this proposed haven for skateboard enthusiasts on the grounds of Elon’s Beth Schmidt Park. Roedner said that this sum would account for just over half of the $743,775 which an ad hoc skate park committee has set as this project’s financial target. Nor did he believe that the town would be spinning its wheels by approaching the trust fund for this largesse.
“We’ve used PARTF before,” he told the council. “That’s how we built Beth Schmidt Park, and it’s a very good way to obtain funds for a recreation facility.”
Roedner noted that the town has already scared up $330,000 for the skate park’s development. These funds include a $245,000 allocation from Elon’s town council as well as a $75,000 pledge from the nonprofit Impact Alamance and another $20,000 in private donations that the skate park committee has raised.
Roedner stressed that, by factoring in the value of the skate park’s proposed site, the town will be able to meet the 50-percent match needed to secure the proposed grant from the trust fund. He added that, despite the competing demands on this state-level revenue source, the town’s chances of actually obtaining these funds doesn’t appear to be a mere pipe dream.
“There’s nothing competing [with the skate park] in Alamance County,” the town manager went on to elaborate, “and the guy from the state said that he thinks we have a good shot at it.”
