The Village of Sloatsburg’s skate park has fallen into disrepair due to its particular location at the Community Fields — the concrete surface has undergone repeated flooding and cycles of freezing and thawing, leaving the rink unrepairable.

Note: This article has been updated. The Sloatsburg Roller Skate Park is a colorful illustration of Mother Nature’s persistent power to undermine and undo things made by human hands. The Skate Rink at the Community Fields was built in the 1980s during the resurgence of public skating and roller blading. It now exists in a state of limbo — currently both unusable and unrepairable.

A view of the fenced bleachers and boards at Sloatsburg’s Roller Skate Rink at the Community Fields.

Sloatsburg Deputy Mayor and two term Trustee Peter Akey is tasked with resolving the skate park dilemma, which could be loosely summed up by paraphrasing the Clash … should it stay or should it go?

Akey said the low location of the park near the Ramapo River, flooding from super storms Floyd, Irene and Sandy, plus successive cycles of freezing and thawing have undermined the rink. The Village bonded $130,000 to repair the rink via a Village Engineer rough assessment, but a much more detailed and recent inspection by Copeland Coating Company put the cost at some $200,000 (which would include lighting, bleachers, boards, penalty boxes, rink surface and dimensions for hockey).

A view of the boards and dilapidated rink surface of Sloatsburg’s Roller Skate Rink, which was used at one-time for league and local play. The surface has been compromised from repeated flooding, freeze and thaw cycles and general abuse from Mother Nature, due to its setting in a low field near the Ramapo River.

Copeland repaired and refinished Sloatsburg’s Community Fields tennis courts, and said the rink is not salvageable. Akey said the Copeland assessment recommended that the skate rink be entirely rebuilt.

The conundrum is whether the village should invest in a new skate hockey rink or convert the land use to additional fields, such as a regulation lacrosse field or field hockey playing surface, both of which would experience greater use over time.

Currently Suffern and Monroe have skate park leagues that Sloatsburg kids can join. Members of the Suffern Police Department manage and operate the Suffern DARE Street Hockey League on Yorkshire Drive in Suffern, with the program has been up and running since 1998.

The question of whether to replace or move on from the Sloatsburg skate hockey experiments is rooted in whether the community could rally a viable league and ever see a return on the investment. Sloatsburg rents out the Community Fields playing fields for league play, using the property as a village revenue stream that helps with maintenance and upkeep for the community’s use.

Update:
Working with the Village of Sloatsburg, a simple poll was created to allow the Village to gauge community interest and opinion on the roller skate rink park. The poll that originally ran with the article has expired and was taken off line. Thank you all for participating.

Results of the poll during its run:
225 no votes (64%)
116 yes votes (33%)
12 other votes (3%)