WATERVILLE — The city’s South End is expected to have a new skatepark this fall that would accommodate bicyclists and skateboarders looking to have fun and try some tricks.

The Waterville City Council voted 7-0 this week to authorize City Manager Steve Daly to sign a contract for up to $135,000 with American Ramp Co. of Joplin, Missouri, to design and build the skatepark at Green Street Park.

The council action launches a major redevelopment of city parks, with the skatepark to be funded with a 2022 general revenue bond.

“This project is one of the several projects for improving the parks around the city,” Daly said. “It’s been budgeted for, and this is just the award of the contract.”

Matt Skehan, director of the Waterville Parks & Recreation Department, said construction is to begin this summer and be finished by fall.

A rendering of a skatepark planned for Green Street Park in Waterville. It is to be built on the west side of the park and scheduled to open this fall. The design shown here is preliminary and subject to change, according to city officials. Photo courtesy of city of Waterville

“We’re very excited about that,” Skehan said Wednesday. “I just got a copy of Steve’s signature on the contract. We’ll start planning this week and into the spring. It will be built this summer.”

Skehan said the city has a preliminary design for the skatepark, but not a final design.

Green Street Park, formerly referred to as Sherwin Street Park, is off Sherwin Street and accessible not only from that street but from Water Street, diagonally across the street from the Hathaway Creative Center.

Many children sled on the park’s hill in winter, and recreational and social activities are held at the site in warmer weather.

Green Street Park featured a skatepark several years ago that was largely for skateboards, but it deteriorated to the point it had to be removed in 2015, according to Skehan. The park is also scheduled to get a new playground and shade pavilion.

Rien Finch, a member of the group Friends of Green Street Park, told councilors Tuesday night the city has been in discussions with American Ramp Co. about the skatepark since 2014-15.

“American Ramp Co. has been working with us and our restrictions,” Finch said, “and they’re an amazing company to work with. Every restriction we give them, they come back and say we can work with us, we can develop this. They’ve been ready to do this for us since 2015, so I am super excited we are here now and that we can make this happen. So thank you, guys.”

Mayor Jay Coelho said he is pleased the park is to be a hybrid serving bicyclists and skateboarders.

“I’m glad that the kids are going to be able to skate and be a mix,” he said. “That park needs some love.”

Beyond the plans for Green Street Park, the city is proposing to spend $847,550 on the Pine Ridge Recreation Area, $660,000 on the North Street Recreation Area, $90,000 on the Grove Street Playground and basketball court and additional money on other parks and sites.

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