By PAOLO MOSSETTI and DAVID CRUZ

Though Community Board 7 overwhelmingly voted in favor of skateboard grounds at the Williamsbridge Oval, the city Parks Department views it as a case of flip flopping.

At their last general meeting on April 29, members agreed to officially support the skateboard park after hearing pleas from young community skateboarders. The advisory vote, largely symbolic, is the latest chapter in a decade-long battle to allocate recreational space inside the Oval.

But the city Department of Parks, through spokesman Nathan Arnosti, said Community Board 7 backpedaled on its request for a skateboard park years back, opting instead for other park projects. “Although a skate area was one of the many possible amenities considered for the renovated park, it was not included after Community Board 7 voted to use the available funds for other improvements,” said Arnosti.

The explanation runs counter to what longtime CB7 members recall when Parks officials approached them to determine what amenities were needed for the Oval. A majority asked for a skateboard park, though the request was verbally communicated and not written on paper. Eventually the skateboard park plans were set aside after interest for a dog run inside the Oval gained momentum.

A Skateboard Park to Nowhere
Plans to build a skating area in the neighborhood go back to 2004 when the Croton Water Filtration Plant was approved for construction by the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Because parkland would be destroyed in Van Cortlandt Park to install the plant, the city placated Bronx community groups by earmarking $200 million for park projects and repairs. Those funds, overseen by the DEP, were ordered to be spent by 2009. It’s so far exhausted about $150 million of it, according to a 2013 audit by then Comptroller John Liu.

The same 2013 report tracked the number of park projects paid by the $200 million fund, revealing that Williamsbridge Oval was in line to receive $15 million in improvements for unspecific projects. When the announcement for the funds was released in 2004, plans for a skateboard park were in order. Despite that, no project was in the pipeline, leaving a void for skateboard enthusiasts forced to practice their moves elsewhere.

Parks has since pumped $14.3 million into the Oval, going towards projects that included a rehabilitated recreation center, a playground with a spray shower feature, synthetic track, basketball courts, and the dog run.

“In 2004, as the Croton filtration plant was being planned, [city officials] asked local groups: ‘what do you want in your area?’” Doug Condit, a local park advocate with Friends of Williamsbridge Oval (FOTWO), recalled. “A priest from St. Brendan’s Church showed up with many skateboarders, and they asked for a skating park, a secure location where they could safely skate. It went before the community board, and the community board said ‘absolutely,’ and it was planned for this park.”

Taking Charge
Last summer, Elisabeth von Uhl, president of FOTWO, invited work crews who recently built a skateboard park in the Concourse section of the Bronx near the Freedman House (167th Street), to visit the Oval, assess the area proposed for the skateboard park and come up with a price tag. Condit has already pointed to where the skateboard park should be placed–a rectangular area in the eastern side of the Oval, restricted by a high fence and occupied by a single slide.

In a presentation of FOTWO at the recreation center, crews estimated the budget for the skateboard park at approximately $125,000. The monies, according to one Community Board 7 member, were re-allocated for the dog run. While the FOTWO estimate was not a formal bid, according to Condit, the cost for a skateboard park was also earmarked through capital funding by former Councilman Oliver Koppell. It’s unclear where the capital funds stand.

The task to help find a skateboard park now falls on Koppell’s successor, Councilman Andy Cohen. Since he took office, Cohen has heard complaints from locals demanding a skateboard park be built in the Oval. “We’re looking into that,” said Daniel Johnson, a spokesman for Cohen. “We’re also looking into other possible alternatives to fund the skate park in the community.”

In March, Condit brought the neighborhood’s young skaters to CB7’s Parks and Recreation Committee. There, support for the project was again unanimous. The committee also requested the board send letters to local officials to encourage the construction of the park. The latest motion voted by CB7 restored some hope among skaters and residents.

Condit pointed to a young boy who began skating in the Oval when he was nine, and has just turned 15. “So apparently democracy works, except when the request is made by some teens?” he asked.