After 6 years, Newport skate park closer to becoming a reality. Here's what's next.

NEWPORT— The Newport Skatepark is one step closer to having a space of its own.

“We feel very good about this space chosen by the city,” Doug Sabetti, a member of the group Friends of the Newport Skatepark, told The Daily News as he stood on a patch of grass that is the proposed site of the skater haven.

“It's a commercial space they had that they decided to divide up and share some with recreation. So we’re just thrilled to death about that. We’re looking forward to a positive vote from the City Council next Wednesday night and then we cannot wait to start fundraising.”

Friends of Newport Skatepark has advocated for the city to offer space for a new public skatepark since 2016. It most recently was able to secure City Council approval for the project in September 2021, with the Abbruzzi Sports Complex flagged as a possible location, in addition to a new basketball court.

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However, the idea received backlash from Newport Little League officials and the families of T-ball players who didn’t want their sport to move from the facility.

Since the City Council vote in 2021 was contingent on the city finding a new location for a T-ball field, the project was frozen for months as a solution was sought. In July 2022, the city took possession of a new plot of land next to Community College of Rhode Island and decided it could be used for the skatepark and basketball court.

The project will be headed to the Tree and Open Space commission for approval on Tuesday before the City Council votes on the resolution to build both recreational facilities on said parcel this Wednesday.

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The new resolution, which does not have any conditionals barring the skatepark form starting the design and construction process, will be presented by Councilor Lynn Underwood Ceglie and is co-sponsored by Councilors Charlie Holder and Elizabeth Fuerte.

Sid Abbruzzi, owner of Waterbrothers Surf & Skate Shop, joined his fellow Friends of Newport Skatepark board members Sabetti, Michael Richards and Danielle Abbruzzi, on the field that could be the future home of the skatepark Wednesday afternoon, the week before the City Council meeting.

Sid Abbruzzi expressed relief they were able to find a spot after searching for so long.

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“This is basically almost the last possible location that was going to be available for us to have any type of park that we really, really believed in,” Sid Abbruzzi said. “We’ve been through every city park over the last 20, 30 years and this place just opened up. Unreal that it just came here.”

The funding for the new skatepark is expected to come from Friends of Newport Skatepark, but the group held off on starting fundraising efforts until it was sure the skatepark had a place to go.

Sabetti, the president of Friends of Newport Skatepark, said the organization will host fundraising campaigns online on its website, through outreach and at events at local establishments. Danielle Abbruzzi is set to be the fundraising director for the project.

“We were reluctant to kick it off officially until we had an official location. Even though we had a vote from City Council, there was still a public process that needed to happen,” Danielle Abbruzzi said.

While the group struggled getting the project off the ground because of the controversy surrounding the Little League T-ball field, Sabetti and the others said they would rather focus on the future than dwell on the past. Richards expressed gratitude to the city staff for working to come up with a solution for the location dilemma.

“The support from the city employees and city officials has been great, too, like Trish Reynolds in the planning department and Joe Nicholson, the city manager and Scott Wheeler in the Parks and Rec department,” Richards said.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport RI: Skate park closer to becoming a reality