Freeport Town Council and town management are considering converting municipal downtown parking into a skatepark at 0 Depot Street, the Amtrak parking lot. I oppose this departure from priorities taxpayers have identified in Freeport’s Downtown Vision 2020 and drafted 2025 comprehensive plan.

If Freeport owns parking lots downtown that it doesn’t need, that’s a housing opportunity. Turning underutilized parking into housing benefits taxpayers, first with land sale revenue, and second with taxes collected on multifamily housing in perpetuity. Other advantages of preserving downtown for housing include efficiency of utility infrastructure and decreased rural sprawl.

There is no profit if the town gives a downtown parking lot away, and while skatepark construction would be paid for by volunteers, trash and maintenance could become a town expense.

Skatepark planners have argued downtown lots provide walkability, but most of the 10-ish skateboarders (total annual) arrive by car. Walkable locations must be prioritized for housing so that residents including youth can work, dine and shop downtown.

A pop-up skatepark has been piloted in this location over the last four summers. Noise levels and unchecked behaviors have proven inappropriate for the current 8% of Freeport households, including elder and workforce housing, that live within 400 feet. The location will be increasingly inappropriate as additional housing is built around it.

A skatepark belongs in an existing recreation complex already designed for sport and providing maintenance, bathrooms and safety. This is the model successfully used in Lewiston, Kennebunk, Rockland, South Portland, Standish and Windham. Midcoast Skate Park is also open in all four seasons, 20 minutes from Freeport schools.

I appeal to Freeport taxpayers to contact Town Council and Town Manager Wilson to request that Freeport convert underutilized municipal parking into a benefit for its taxpayers. In my view, there is nothing more pressing than housing.

Stefanie Millette
Freeport