When the Barrington Town Council meets on Monday night, Nov. 6, members will consider submitting an application to the RI Department of Environmental Management for a grant to construct a new skatepark in Barrington. 

The Park and Recreation Commission recently voted unanimously to recommend that the town apply for the grant, which would be for $280,000 and would require a 20 percent match from the town. 

According to Barrington Park and Recreation Commission Chairman Mike Seward, officials have identified two possible locations for the proposed skateboard park: near the Kids Kove Playground behind the town hall or in the western section of Haines Park. 

“We were really excited about putting it next to Kids Kove Playground,” Seward said during a recent interview. “It would fit right in there. And frankly, you’re less likely to have kids off by themselves getting into trouble.”

Seward said Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey prefers the Haines Park location, and has already reached out to DEM and received unofficial approval for building a skateboard park there. (Haines is owned by the state, but Barrington currently holds a 30-year lease agreement for the park.)

In his memo to the Town Council, Hervey offered reasons for placing the skatepark at Haines. He said he was concerned about the loss of parking spaces and that there was no obvious alternative location for a trash dumpster and donation bin that are currently located in the space that would be used behind the town hall. 

“The site is less accessible to the remainder of the Town compared to the Town Hall site, but it is conveniently located close to the East Bay Bike Path,” Hervey wrote. “It also has no neighbors, other than the marina to the south.”

The Park and Recreation Commission has been considering the construction of a new skateboard park for a while. Seward said the town already has a park on Legion Way, but apparently it is substandard and not well-used.