A popular but troubled skateboarding park in Vinton will close as scheduled Sunday, but town council agreed Tuesday to continue study of a new location for the facility.

That approval came despite frustrations from several council members over miniscule citizen involvement in an advisory committee created to help guide the study, and distress over a fight that police were called to the park over Labor Day weekend.

The council voted in June to close the facility in Gearhart Park after hearing staff reports of graffiti, vandalism and evidence of sexual activity and illegal drugs at the site. There also was a report of "tags" indicating gang activity, according to Mayor Brad Grose.

After skateboarding enthusiasts packed a subsequent council meeting and promised to help keep the park clean and "family friendly," council voted to extend its use until Sept. 21 to allow youths to skate throughout their summer vacation from school.

But the holiday weekend fight was a deal breaker for some council members.

"If it were not for the fact that the closing is so close in time and the public works department is overworked, I would be moving to close it immediately," said Councilman Wes Nance, the council's representative on the advisory committee.

"That does not impact my support for going forward with a new location, but it reinforces this council's decision to close the existing one," Nance said.

Nance had previously expressed his frustration over the fact that only two adults could be mustered to volunteer for the advisory committee, even after distributing about 50 fliers at town expense to invite participation.

Jennifer Stadter and Jennifer Matherly, mothers of skateboarders and advocates for a new park, are the committee members and encouraged the council not to give up on them as they seek more participation from town residents.

They created an e-mail address -- savevntnsk8park@aol.com -- for interested people to communicate with them.

While the advisory committee may be small, Stadter and Matherly have been enthusiastic participants, Interim Town Manager Consuella Caudill said. After examining several options, they and town staff have identified two parcels of town-owned property that may be viable for a skate park, Caudill said.

One is on Walnut Avenue, the other just off Gus Nicks Boulevard and actually in Roanoke, even though the town owns it.

Council agreed that staff should continue to examine those options, even as the town prepares to dismantle the Gearhart Park facility and put its ramps and other accoutrements in storage.

That skate park was built six years ago on the site of tennis courts that apparently had been abandoned because vandals consistently damaged them at the remote, out-of-view site.

A coalition of private citizens, businesses and government helped raise the money to build the $20,000 skate park, evidence of an enthusiasm that Stadter and Matherly said they hope to drum up again.