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Monthly Town Meeting - July 2001

At the July 2 town meeting commissioners voted to close the skateboard park in Emmitsburg Community Park and return the site to its original purpose as a tennis court. The recommendation to close the park came from the Parks and Recreation Commission which cited almost no use of the skateboard facilities because of declining supervision. The deterioration of the ramps was also a factor.

At the inception of the skateboard proposal, the commissioners felt that they could not afford to pay a supervisor, so they relied instead upon an organization of parents and other adults who agreed to provide the required supervision on a regular basis. Insurance for the park provided by the Local Government Trust required the presence of adult supervision while the park was open.

The schedule developed by the adults for 30 days was not adhered to and it soon became a situation where individual parents, when their children wanted to skate, would go to the town office to get the key and open the park, and then return the key when their family was finished. With this procedure, there was never a set time that the facility was opened and, understandably, the use of the facility was extremely limited.

The park was opened in April 2000. The town funded the project for $4,000 and Leo Hobbs and Pat Wivell headed the team of parents and friends who spent "at least 150 man hours" building the ramps for the skateboard park. The skateboard ramps will now be removed and tennis net posts reinstalled.

In other actions the council rejected a text amendment (01-12) to ordinance 17.36.090 to allow an auction house in the Village Zone (the Village Zone includes East and West Main Street from Creamery Road down to the east side of Rutters, and North and South Seton Avenue from the Post Office and Pizza Hut to Creekside Drive.) Residents Mike Boyle, Jerry Orndorff, and Kenny Howard spoke in opposition to the proposed change citing what they believed was the lack of adequate parking space at the assumed location of the Antique Mall for such a business. The council voted 4 - 1 against the motion. (The mayor now votes with the 4 commissioners giving a total of five votes).

Jim Hoover voted for the amended text. He told the Dispatch that he believed the problem of parking is covered elsewhere in the Town codes. "It would be up to the Board of Appeals and Planning and Zoning to verify that the proposed site has required parking space," he said. "Not the council."

The council then voted 5-0 to accept a text amendment (01-13) to ordinance 17.20.050 to allow an auction house in the Business District (any zone in the town except the Village or Residential Zone.

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