By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Berlin skate park initiative closed out the year   with a pair of donations totaling $34,000.

Approximately $14,000 came from the Gavin Knupp Foundation and $20,000 was given by an anonymous local donor.

Tony Weeg of We Heart Berlin, the nonprofit pushing for the construction of a skate park at Heron Park, said the donations will pay the final $7,500 bill from the design phase and the $25,000 construction documents.

The skate park is proposed to be 19,000 square feet in total area, including parking, landscaping and seating areas.

Weeg said there will be 17,000 square feet of concrete associated with elements of the park, which will include a bowl and a variety of features for skaters of all levels.

The Gavin Knupp Foundation was created following the death of local teenager Gavin Knupp, who was killed in a hit-and-run in the summer of 2022.

The organization was founded by the victim’s mother, Tiffany. In 2023, embezzlement and theft allegations surfaced in connection to the foundation. Tiffany Knupp took an Alford Plea last September, while not an admission of guilt, acknowledges the stack of evidence to convict her.

Part of the plea deal stipulated that the foundation would be dissolved, and any remaining funds would be donated to local charities. One such charity was the Berlin skate park effort.

“The money from the Gavin Knupp Foundation comes with a lot of gravity and determination,” Weeg said. “To make sure that we take the memory of the child and go forward and make the skate park happen is even more in our face now. This is no longer about receiving a couple of donors here and there … You have to imagine that this is something Gavin would have spent time on and would have been interested in, and to have his name attached to it now is pretty awesome.”

Weeg was also surprised by an additional $20,000 from a private donor. The We Heart Berlin founder added that the contributor said this money is a “down payment” and they want to continue donating, but a possible total amount was not disclosed.

The skate park project’s next phase, following construction document securement, is land grading, adding fill dirt to the site to increase the height of some portions of the park, and building the needed drainage. Weeg hopes to accomplish this task through sweat equity.

“The exciting part about that is once construction documents are here and we have direction on that, we can start to seek local donations of time and effort that will eventually erase dollars off the total, around $170,000,” he said.

Another $160,000 from concrete flatwork could also be eliminated, as once construction gets underway, Weeg expects the concrete to be provided by a local company. Of the estimated $975,000, $330,000 could be taken off the cash amount via time and effort contributions.

“It’s going to be a team effort and a group effort from everyone around here but I think we’re on the path [to the skate park],” Weeg said.

Weeg intends to contact various foundations, such as the Tony Hawk Foundation, which supports skate park construction in underserved communities, and the Salisbury-based Donnie Williams Foundation, during the next 12 months to secure additional project funds.

Another avenue could be grants recommended to Weeg by Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day. For instance, several hundred thousand dollars from the Strategic Demolition Grant could be utilized for pre-development costs, like site preparation for the skate park, if awarded. According to Weeg, Day added that the Town of Berlin received $500,000 from the Strategic Demolition Grant through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) FY2022 State Revitalization Program for the deconstruction of the former Tyson Plant on the Heron Park property, where the skate park will be situated.

“It is a natural progression of the department of the state to continue funding the increase of productivity and the beautification of the park,” Weeg said.

Day also mentioned the Community Legacy Grant for construction costs, of which he said the project would “definitely be eligible for the actual build-out of the park.”  The project may also qualify for the Seed Community Development Anchor Institution Fund in the several hundred-thousand-dollar range. However, the DHCD secretary noted that it requires a college or hospital to apply, which he suggested could be Atlantic General Hospital.

The town’s Annual Program Open Space Development Plan also included the skate park project. Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said last month that the plan “prioritizes upcoming and future planned projects for the town’s parks, with the intent to apply [for grant funding].”

According to Bohlen, the information necessary for an application on behalf of the skate park was not prepared in time for the last cycle. However, she added that “provided the appropriate information is ready for a grant application, the town would intend to make an application to the Community Parks and Playgrounds program (under Program Open Space) for fiscal year 2026.”

The grant funds would come through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources from its Open Space and Community Parks and Playgrounds Program, which DNR explains “provides flexible grants to local governments to respond to the unmet need for assistance to rehabilitate, expand or improve existing parks, create new parks, develop environmentally oriented parks and recreation projects, or purchase and install playground equipment in older neighborhoods and intensely developed areas throughout the state.”

The town may submit a skate park application to the Community Parks and Playgrounds Program for FY26, due in late summer this year. Awardees will be notified in spring 2026. Bohlen maintained Berlin intends to apply, but nothing is “set in stone.”

The snowstorm earlier this week saw Weeg at Heron Park, the site of the future skating hub.

“It was amazing to be at Heron Park seeing hundreds of kids sledding downhill, and I can just imagine all those kids wanting to be at the skate park in the summertime,” he said. “It just goes to show when you build it, they will come. We know it will be great for Berlin, but seeing that many kids on boards going downhill was a good precursor to seeing in the shadow of where the skate park will be.”