M.A.S.S. attends Park Board hearing

On Tuesday, May 2, the Marshfield Parks and Recreation Board held its monthly meeting with two topics on the agenda.

The first item was the tennis courts at Rotary Park. The day before, city crews had begun demolition due to the courts becoming more and more of a safety concern. The board began discussion for the now empty lot, such as how many new tennis courts should be put in or if something else should be put in, like a pickleball court or a skate park, and if so, how much space would be needed.

The conversation was opened to representatives and supporters of the Marshfield Action Sports Syndicate (M.A.S.S), who discussed with the board how much space would be needed for a potential skate park. M.A.S.S. discussed several types of skate parks they were looking at. When asked how much space would be necessary for a small space, Kriss Hurt, Secretary for M.A.S.S., mentioned, “For something small like a skate dot that a few skaters could use, we would be looking at 600 square feet up to 1500 square feet.”

Rotary Park offers several programs, from zombie runs to NERF wars, youth spots, and more. Sam Rost, City Administrator for Marshfield, told M.A.S.S., “Rotary Park is heavily programmed.” Both parties agreed that Rotary Park would not be a good fit. The board and M.A.S.S discussed the possibility of using one of the more underutilized parks like Massey Park. In addition, there will be further discussion with both parties down the pipeline about a potential skate park.

Regarding the tennis courts, it was decided that for now, the City will look to work on a request for a quote on the cost of replacing two tennis courts; once that is figured, the Park Board will decide what actions need to be taken.

The last item was the Action Sports Center; the board reviewed the proposed design and discussed its next steps. They decided to discuss the Action Center more in depth in an upcoming meeting.

The Parks and Recreation board will meet again on June 7 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.