Montclair Planning Board Member Pitches Plan To Fund Skate Park

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A deal with a private marketing company could pay for a new skate park in Montclair, a planning board member says.

A skate park – something that Montclair’s youth have been requesting for more than a decade – could become a reality if the town is willing to enter a public-private partnership to finance the project, Martin Schwartz said.

Schwartz, who has worked in corporate communications for companies such as AT&T and CitiCorp, said he’s been talking with Pennsylvania-based Catalyst Experiential, which pitched a plan that could fund the park.

According to Schwartz, Montclair would have to allocate land for the new park. The township would also have to agree to another key part of the deal: “promotional signage.”

Schwartz said the company told him that its on-site promotion signage displays would generate enough revenue to cover all of the design and construction costs for the park.

Using this “collaborative municipal market approach,” Catalyst Experiential has built an EMS facility in Mt. Laurel and a $2.5 million dog park in Pennsylvania, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he believes the signage could be “tastefully integrated” within the surrounding area.

After several previous attempts to put a skate park within township borders failed, more than 150 young skaters and their parents appeared at a Town Council meeting last November to pitch the idea again.

Montclair wouldn’t be the first Essex County town to build a skate park. In 2017 – after years of advocacy from local youth – West Orange opened a facility on Rose Terrace.

The park, which was financed by about $225,000 in town funding and bonds in 2010, reportedly came about after more than 300 area youth presented West Orange officials with a petition asking for a safe space for skaters in the area to practice and hang out.

• See related article: West Orange Skatepark Opens After Years Of Waiting

Mike Kirk, a skateboard enthusiast in Maplewood, said that skate parks – especially indoor facilities – are needed more than ever during a fundraising campaign two years ago.

• See related article: 'Maplewood Needs An Indoor Skate Park'; Local Starts Fundraiser

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