There have been a few changes happening around the community complex this last while; if you have driven past the volleyball court recently, you probably noticed the old siding was torn off and replaced with the Thermopanel siding, which raises the insulation value to R-32 from R-0ish in places. Inside we have new plywood and paint, and will be installing some sort of track system to hold advertising panels, which will be lightweight corrugated plastic. Not unlike computer technology, sign materials have changed immensely for the better as any of us that have had the pleasure of wrestling a three-quarter-inch sheet of plywood 15 feet up a ladder will attest. The Thermopanel installer from Calgary that got the contract was the same one that did the original install five years ago and was imploring us to find more work in Creston as he absolutely loves the valley.
You may have noticed the advertisement in the Advance a few weeks ago about the public meeting to seek input from our skatepark users on July 22. The meeting was a part of an overall skatepark assessment we have arranged to have done on the 15-year-old structure in order to establish condition and what the future may hold for it. I was pleased to see we had pretty close to equal numbers of younger riders of maybe 10 to 14 years old compared to older riders of 16 to 30-plus years old, all providing valuable input on our park as well as other parks in the area and beyond. There was a third group that maybe rode in a previous life or had some connection to community and they provided yet another valuable point of view.
The consultant, Jim Barnum, president of Spectrum Skateparks, led the meeting and it became clear very quickly he knew skateboarding intimately, initially from a boarder’s point of view as they bantered back and forth about carving, fakies, ollies, grinding, McTwists, tailslides and verts. He also had no issue discussing community engagement, esthetics, family friendliness, crime prevention through environmental design and engineering, amongst many other points. Also providing input at that meeting or the staff/professional meeting the following day were local area directors, Town of Creston councillors and engineering manager, RCMP, local Regional District of Central Kootenay staff and managers from the Nelson and Castlegar recreation complexes who brought some great operational insight from previous rec centre skatepark experiences in Western Canada. When the report is completed in a few months, it will be presented to the Creston Valley Services Committee.
By now, the repairs and upgrading to Rotacrest Hall’s upper parking lot will be underway and will deal with some detrimental surface and subsurface drainage and grading issues that became apparent when the hall upgrades were done last year. By the time the dust settles, there should be a bit more space to park up top, along with new pavement winding back down the driveways. While there probably won’t be an increase in parking spaces, there will be a wider driveway space to allow easier access for emergency vehicles or drop-offs without hearing that screeching sound as dude’s trailer hitch opens the side of your car up like a sardine can. As usual, you won’t see the more important infrastructure work such as excavating down to the foundation, installing weeping tile and waterproofing, as well as compacting to specifications that will ensure a long life cycle of the building and parking lot. But it will be there!
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.