BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The Fall Island Skate Park will be rolled out as part of the village’s Riverwalk Project.

The village board of trustees officially passed a resolution designating the skatepark project as part of the Riverwalk at their meeting Monday, April 3. The project will be funded, in part, from $700,000 of the village’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding package from the state.

A skate park on the island was originally one of the community renewal projects presented to the state for DRI funding under its strategic plan, but didn’t garner state approval at the time.

However, the project, which could include art and historical installations, drew a groundswell of grassroots support from various organizations and community stakeholders, notably SLC Arts which spearheaded the support movement.

The village opted to partner with SLC Arts in 2022 to help raise money from other sources for the project.

After two other DRI projects dropped out in 2022, $700,000 of the village’s almost $10 million DRI allotment was freed up for use on other initiatives, but the municipality had to wait to get state approval to apply the cash to the skate park. The village in late February received state approval that a skate park project could be incorporated into the village’s DRI funded Riverwalk Project and use the available funding.

A committee putting the project together last year had hoped to contract with Pillar Design Studios, formed by Potsdam native Brad Siedlecki, to construct the park. The firm has given an estimate of around $600,000 for the 10,000-square-foot park.

At the April 3 meeting, Village Trustee Alexandra Jacobs Wilke told the board that while the work had been approved by the state, the skate park project would have to work through a full design process with collaboration with the community. But she pointed out the benefits the park would bring to Potsdam once complete.

“It can bring people together. Obviously it's great to have a recreational facility that’s open to people of different backgrounds, different age groups. We did that with the pickle ball courts and I think to great success,” said Wilke. “It makes downtown more vibrant. Currently that space is underutilized and frankly falling apart. So we could use something to bring people together.”

Maggie McKenna, SLC Arts executive director, was on hand at the meeting to voice support of the village passing the resolution to bring the skate park into the Riverwalk Project. She said that the project has use of the services of internationally acclaimed public artist and designer Matthew Mazzotta, who is originally from Canton. Mazzotta has been working with grassroots organizers to help get the skate park project off the ground for several years. McKenna pointed out that he is currently employed through a Creatives New York Grant secured by SLC Arts for the next two years to lead public art initiatives, including the skate park.

McKenna said the Fall Island project will not just be a skate park, but an art gallery and a multi-generational space.

“It's going to be a really beautiful project,” McKenna said. “I think this is a really great start between the arts council and the village of Potsdam.”