Skateboarders were given an almost two-month extension for the use of the vandal-plagued Gearhart Park by the Vinton Town Council on Tuesday.

On a 4-1 vote with Councilman Billy Obenchain dissenting, the council decided to keep the skate park open until the official end of summer, Sept. 21.

It also will appoint a committee to look into ways to make the park "safe, legal and family friendly," including the option of moving it to a new location.

Before the discussion and vote, Mayor Brad Grose said that Monday night's two-hour public meeting on the park was productive and helped establish several points, including, "that as it is being presently operated, Gearhart Park has some serious issues and will not work, and cannot continue in its present condition."

But, he said, the council was willing to reconsider the July 30 closing date it set last month, "because it is the summer, and this is the prime time for users of the park."

Councilwoman Carolyn Fidler's original motion would have kept the park open on a month-to-month basis until the new committee found a solution to provide skateboarders a venue.

But several councilmen objected to the open-ended time frame, and Councilman Wes Nance proposed an amendment with the Sept. 21 deadline. That extension is conditional, "so long as the citizen volunteers maintain a reasonable appearance and reasonable level of safety."

After that deadline, Gearhart Park will be "permanently closed as a skate park while the committee weighs its options."

Nance volunteered to serve on that committee. Town Manager Consuella Caudill will approach residents who signed up as volunteers, and Grose promised to make appointments and get the committee to work as soon as possible.

The skate park was built in 2002 after merchants complained about youths skateboarding in the farmers market and other places downtown.

Parents, skateboarders and merchants raised $10,000 in just more than a month to qualify for a matching grant from Roanoke County to build the ramps and other amenities at Gearhart Park. The town also contributed. The site became popular with skateboarders not only in Vinton, but also across the Roanoke Valley and into Bedford County.

Its isolated location, however, had long left the park open to vandalism that had contributed to the closing of the tennis courts that were there before the skate park.

By 2005, the town became so concerned about the damage wrought by vandals at the skate park that the council considered closing it down. An avalanche of support by skaters and parents prevented that, as they pledged to help with the park's upkeep.

In recent months, however, town staff concluded that the park had become a serious target of vandals again. Graffiti and trash covered the site, and staffers reported evidence of sexual activity, drug use and gang activity at the park.