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Skateboard park finally finds a home

New site adjacent to Diamond #4
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A site for Vanderhoof’s skateboard park has finally been chosen, much to the delight of young skaters in the community. (photo/Black Press)

District Council has been skating around the development of a skateboard park for a few years, according to Mayor Gerry Thiessen, but he’s thrilled that the project has finally found its balance and will be moving ahead in the coming year.

“We originally looked at a site in Ferland Park, but area residents got quite upset with that consideration so we backed away from that location,” said Thiessen.

“We then looked at a parcel of land behind the post office, on CN land, but the railway wanted quite a bit for that land, so that was discarded as well.”

The site that has now been chosen is a parcel of land directly across from diamond #4, on the west side of Recreation Drive, directly across from the new Aquatic Centre.

“There was some doubt about that site as well, because we originally thought that it would mean taking diamond #4 out of service, but it turns out that there is enough land to accommodate the skateboard park as well as a small parking lot, without disturbing the ball diamond at all,” said Zoe Dhillon, the Special Projects Coordinator for the District of Vanderhoof.

Dhillon reported the good news to the March 12 meeting of council, but reported that a final determination of location would have to wait for a geotechnical survey of the land to ensure that there are no factors (like an underground creek, for example) that would stand in the way of the site’s use for the park.

“The site is a snow dump, so it’s going to take a while for the snow to be gone before we can do the survey, but I’m reasonably confident that we’ll be able to proceed this year.”

The 10,000 square foot project comes with a half million dollar price tag, of which $322,200 has been secured and is held in reserve for the project.

“We’ll be applying for other grants for the remaining $177,800 and I’m reasonably optimistic that we’ll get a good part of that funding from other sources,” said Hilary Irvine, Deputy Director of Community Development.

If funding can be secured, construction can begin in the Spring with completion before the snow flies in 2018.

The only issue that may still have to be addressed was raised by Councillor Ken Young, who pointed out that the locations of both the parking lot and the skateboard park may be such that stray balls hit out of the adjacent diamond could potentially strike either cars or people using the sites. He raised the possibility that a higher fence, or even some netting, may be required at the site.

It’s a concern that Dhillon will address once the project enters the final phases.

“I’m just glad that we finally have a location for this project,” said Thiessen.

“People are funny about skateboard parks. They have this idea that there are negative things happening there, but really, where do they expect the kids to ride their skateboards?”