Cranberry Township residents should appreciate their elected officials' willingness to make an area behind the municipal building available for conversion into a skateboard park. The area in question is a pad once used to hold impounded vehicles.

Also meriting positive notice is the way township officials are handling planning for the facility. A meeting being billed as a design team exercise is scheduled for Thursday at the municipal building for skateboarders and their parents.

Skateboarders have been asked to come to the municipal building at 5 p.m. that day. Parents and other interested adults have been asked to arrive at 6 p.m. The meeting, part of which will be to collect information on features to include in the skatepark, is scheduled to conclude at 8 p.m.

Another goal of the meeting will be to recruit parents to help in the daylong Community Build Day, which has been scheduled tentatively for June 18.

With the news that a skatepark is in the township's future came the news that the township's budget apparently will not feel much impact from installation of the facility. The skateboard park is being made possible by a grant from American Eagle Outfitters. Meanwhile, the April 7 session is being coordinated by KaBOOM!, a 10-year-old national nonprofit organization that works through a network of donors to build and improve parks around the country.

The township's young people, as well as those adults who still might enjoy getting exercise of that kind, should appreciate this opportunity that is being made available - and be determined and committed to making the opportunity a positive experience now and for years to come.