Skating it up, here at Millersville

Matt Arment stands inside his workshop surrounded by freshly painted skateboard decks with an airbrush in his hand.

He pulls down his dust mask, smiles, and says “Yeah I was pretty much born to do this.”

Arment, 34, owns his Susquehanna Skateboard Company, of the only local manufacturers of skateboards in Lancaster County, and is actively involved in the design and planning of the Millersville Skate Park.

That’s right, skateboarders in Millersville will now have their very own community skate park to ride in. The proposed park will be built upon the seldom-used and deteriorating tennis court adjacent in the Millersville Park adjacent to John Herr’s Market.

Designers plan to install new facility in phases, the first of which being the construction of concrete transitions including: a quarter-pipe and a section of a bowl, as well as concrete boxes and ledges that stimulate the terrain favored by skaters for doing grinds and flip tricks.

As additional funds are raised, subsequent phases which will include more challenging obstacles are planned to be implemented in the park.

Arment, who grew up in Denver, is a lifelong skater and recent skate park designer, having gotten involved in planning and advocating for public works in Columbia, Lancaster and York.

He first learned of the proposed Millersville park a year ago and began to attend borough council meetings where the issue was being discussed by frustrated parents and council members.

Liability and insurance for the park, as well as funding for its construction, were topics of debate at council meetings.

Millersville borough ordinances prohibit skateboarding on streets, sidewalks, and private property, which has created problems among skateboarders, their parents and local police.

Interest in constructing a public park has stemmed, in part, from the growing number of underage skaters being cited for riding on streets and sidewalks.

Police are often called to disperse skaters from business parking lots and public thoroughfares. Safety and wear-and-tear on public property are chief concerns.

When asked about the new park, a borough police representative said, “The idea is to give the kids a safe place to play, and hopefully this will work out best for everybody.”

The most important step in getting approval for the park’s construction was educating parents and council members as to why a park was needed and what it would consist of.

A non-profit advocacy group for the park project, Skate Millersville, (sk8mlvl) as well as raise funds for its construction.

Skaters, parents and other Millersville community members make up the organization which has been hosting concerts, barbeques and other fundraisers to raise money.

The group aims to collect funding for the park through fundraisers and private donations, with no burden on local taxpayers for the proposed 10,000 square foot facility.

Ollie Wilson, 29, has been attending the council meetings with hopes that the park’s blueprints will soon become a reality.

Lancaster has seven free public skate parks throughout the county, with more being planned in addition to Millersville’s.

A Denver Park and Recreation spokesman said their park, built in 2006, “by far, the skate park is the most used facility in the Denver Park.”

Chad Kramer, 36, a former professional skater who now designs and builds wooden and concrete ramps and parks throughout Pennsylvania, stresses the importance of having experienced skaters help with the planning of this kind of investment.

“Sometimes parks end up getting built and designed by playground equipment companies who have no grasp of skateboarding.

Community officials don’t always know who to talk to about a potential community skatepark and too often these prefab playground outfits are all too eager to ‘help’.”

Most skaters prefer concrete or wooden parks to less challenging and less durable prefabricated ones, and some, like Arment, get involved in council meetings to ensure the community does not get saddled with a substandard park designed by people who do not understand the sport or know how to arrange ramps and obstacles to maximize a park’s fun and overall utility.

Arment helps his three year-old son, Oliver, maintain his balance atop a miniature skateboard as we chat at his Millersville home.