NEWPORT — A skateboard park and a basketball court will be added to the Abbruzzi Sports Complex and will complement the existing Little League baseball diamond. The T-ball field now at the complex will be moved to nearby Miantonomi Park.
The City Council voted 4-2 Wednesday night to take that action after hearing impassioned pleas in favor of a skateboard park and equally impassioned pleas to leave the T-ball field where it is.
Opponents to the plan argued another location should be found for the skateboard park and basketball court.
Scott Wheeler, the city’s superintendent of parks, grounds and forestry, told the council he has spent the past 20 years unsuccessfully trying to find a suitable location for a skate park until this location in the North End came up.
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Council Vice Chairwoman Lynn Underwood Ceglie and Councilwoman Jamie Bova introduced the resolution calling for council approval of a three-sports complex. They wanted to end the months-long public discussion of the pros and cons.
They gained the support of Councilwoman Angela McCalla and Councilman Charlie Holder. Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano and Councilwoman Elizabeth Fuerte were opposed. Councilwoman Kathryn Leonard was absent.
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“If we vote against this, there is not going to be a skate park,” Ceglie said during the debate. “Come on. Who is going to keep fighting for this? Skateboarding is a respected activity. Skateboarders need an outlet for their sport. There has been too much talk about this and not enough action. I’m tired of just talking about things and nothing ever happens.”
“Having all the sports in one complex will really create a nice sense of community that will be beneficial for the whole city,” Bova said.
“I’ve done my homework by asking children and their families what they want and have found overwhelming support for this — yes, they want all three,” McCalla said. “What I heard loud and clear is that our children need somewhere where they can do many different recreational activities. Not all our children are Little Leaguers; not all of our children are basketball players; maybe, some of them can be skateboarders.”
“If we could have found a spot for a bigger and better skate park in the past 20 years, we would have found one by now,” Holder said. “If we don’t do it now, it’s not going to get done. I’m ready to go. I agree with Councilor Ceglie — I’m tired of the debate.
Holder was responding in part to Fuerte, who argued the Abbruzzi complex is not big enough to accommodate a signature skateboard park and a basketball court. She wanted the council to tell city staff to find another location.
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“It’s going to be a mini-skate park and a mini-basketball court,” she said. “We need to build it bigger and better.”
“We have a couple of beautiful fields there right now for Little League and T-ball,” Napolitano said. “They have bathrooms there. They have foods for the kids after their games. Why did we make the investment in those fields and we can’t find another place for a skateboard park? Little League has been there for 50 years.”
She said basketball and skateboarding would add to the “intensity” of uses in a densely settled area.
Friends of Newport Skatepark will now undertake the fundraising needed to build the facility. Members of group were hoping to get approval for the undertaking from the council in May of this year.
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They were caught by surprise by the opposition they faced then because council members had voted unanimously to accept in September 2020 a $100,000 state Department of Environmental Management grant to construct a basketball court at the Abbruzzi Sports Complex.
If a basketball court is built there, there is no room for the T-ball field, according to Wheeler. But there would still be room for a skate park.
Before Wednesday’s vote, some members of the public encouraged the council to make a decision.
“It’s ridiculous to continue to do inaction,” said Tim Harrington. “Inaction is action. Do this now. Just do it.”
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But there were many who encouraged the skate park advocates to search elsewhere.
“My son is in Little League and I’m a resident of the neighborhood,” said Christine Sullivan. “I think Braga Park would be the perfect location. Leave the baseball diamonds alone and go to the other side of town.”
Kevin Demello, a father of four girls and another neighborhood resident, took the opposite tack. “This is a great opportunity and that is a great location for it,” he said.
The Aquidneck Land Trust bought a land conservation easement for all of Miantonomi Park in 2006 so it could be preserved.
City Manager Joseph J. Nicholson Jr. said he’s had discussions with representatives of the Land Trust about building a T-ball field there. Under the current easement, only a temporary backstop would be allowed, he said. But they are discussing a modification to the easement that would allow a permanent backstop.
Chris Rosa, president of Newport Little League, said volunteers would not be able to take down and the put back up a backstop for every T-ball game.
Bova successfully introduced an amendment to the resolution that calls for the creation of a T-ball field at Miantonomi Park before any construction gets underway at the Abbruzzi Complex.
“We’ve never had a place to call our own,” said Sid Abbruzzi, who has been involved with skateboarding for more than 50 years.
The complex is named for his father, Louis “Duke” Abbruzzi, the coach who led the Rogers High School Vikings to a Division I baseball championship in 1971 and was a long-time coach at Rogers.
Abbruzzi said he has been before the council in the past with skate park proposals, such as one for Braga Park years ago that was rejected.
“On behalf of all the skateboarders and sports enthusiasts I say vote for the skate park in Newport, Rhode Island,” he concluded. “It’s more than overdue.”
