OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The Recreation Department recently received a $5,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation toward the construction of a new skate park.

The Tony Hawk Foundation is a non-profit that helps promote and finance public skate parks across the country.

The grant brings current funding up to $35,000.

In the past two years, the Town Council has earmarked $15,000 toward a new skate park.

Recreation Director Jason Webber estimates the cost of a new skate park would be between $70,000 and $90,000.

Webber said he would like to see the skate park built within two years. Although the department is likely less than halfway to its financial goal, and there needs to be a formal design, Webber is optimistic.

“It’s an aggressive timeline,” he said, “but doable.”

The old skate park, located where the new police station is being built on E. Emerson Cummings Boulevard, was torn down in 2009, said Webber. It was constructed of wood, and not built to endure the harsh winters of Maine and was deteriorating, he said.

Webber said the Recreation Department will look into more grants and fundraising opportunities. The next step, he said, is to get a formal design of the park and get a solid number on how much it is going to cost, he said.

Last year, a series of meetings was held regarding the skate park and a conceptual design was drawn up. The meetings were well attended by local students, said 17-year-old Eric Santos, student representative to the recreation board and a local skateboarder who said he’s been skating since he could walk.

Santos said that the proposed new skate park would be built of concrete, with terrain that would suit all types of skateboarding.

He said that the old skate park was very popular, and people from neighboring towns, as well as summer tourists from Canada, used the park.

“It really brought a lot of people together,” said Santos.

Webber said that it’s important to have a skate park to get skaters off the streets and sidewalks. Like Santos, he said the sport is very popular.

“There has always been a large contingency of kids who skate in our community,” he said.

Webber said that a skate park, like the one in Portland, could draw people from other communities.

“If you build a really good skate park, people will travel,” he said.

Proponents of a new skate park would like it built at The Ballpark property, and the Ballpark Commission has given the Recreation Department the approval to do so, say officials.

Dru Laduke, chairman of the recreation board, said that there is a lot of “new life happening”  in The Ballpark area and building a skate park will continue the momentum.

The proposed location at The Ballpark property would be ideal, said Laduke, because it’s near both the high school and the police station. Studies show that skate parks near police stations have less vandalism, he said.

Town Councilor Robin Dayton has been a strong supporter of the skate park. The Town Council had made a promise that the town would replace the skate park after it tore it down, she said.

“It’s a question of keeping our word,” she said. “We owe it to the kids.”

Dayton said the skate park will give children and teenagers in town a safe place to be physically active.

“It will add to our economic development goals at The Ballpark and provide another incentive for more families to come to Old Orchard Beach,” she said.

Dayton said the meetings have been attended by children of all ages, as well as adults, and the process is helping to build trust and confidence in students.

A fundraiser for the skate park is planned at Flatbread Pizza in Portland on Tuesday evening, March 22.

To get involved or for more information, call the Recreation Department at 934-0860.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.