Just over four months ago, we held a Skatepark Design Meeting where we invited the public to come and participate in the design of a future skate park. This followed on the heels of the original skatepark assessment and eventual removal because it had reached the end of its lifecycle - which is a fancy way of saying it was cracking and crumbling away, and creating safety issues. The design meeting in June had a great turnout of both youth and adults to listen to Spectrum Skateparks Jim Barnum and Landscape Architect Mark van der Zalm and to gather some abundant input on what a new skatepark and surrounding area could look like.
Since then, there have been several meetings with a steady stream of ideas going back and forth, capitalizing on what information was gathered here, how the terrain could be utilized to our benefit, and what is trending both now and possibly the future in order to get the longest lifecycle possible out of the area. Mixed in there was geotechnical surveying to ensure that as the project moves forward, what lies beneath doesn’t rear up and bite us such as bedrock a foot below the surface or a lurking sinkhole or maybe just the more mundane items like the presence of Quaternary Alluvium, Middle Aldridge argillite and Moyie intrusion quartz diorite sills. You know – the simple things.
So now we need you back to provide your opinion on the subsequent conceptual drawings, layouts and design. On Thursday November 24th there will be a couple meetings – the first one is at 5:00 pm in the Erickson Room at the Community Complex. It is intended for the boarders, bikers and scooters that would be using the skatepark. Jim Barnum will present this Focused Skatepark Design session and will be covering features and flow as well as listening to your feedback. I imagine we will see all the dedicated participants we have seen at the previous gatherings but if you know someone that is interested, by all means invite them along.
Following that focus group, at 6:00 pm we will be moving into the main lobby of the Community Complex with the broader theme of the whole area on the hill including the skatepark, playground, volleyball, horseshoes, walking path and various other cool ideas we want you to have a look at. This addresses the bigger picture items such as social gathering spaces, intergenerational integration, accessibility, civic events or just sitting at a picnic table and eating lunch. Rather than having an open house in one of our meeting rooms, we decided to have it in the lobby with the intent of perhaps capturing opinions from anyone and everyone that might be curling, swimming, skating, working out, or just wandering through.
So, to recap, 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the Erickson Room if you have the ability to balance and go really fast on two to four really small wheels and anywhere between 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the lobby if you are more comfortable on perhaps four larger wheels and an internal combustion engine. Either way, you are welcome to attend both in order to comment on the overall park scheme or the skatepark itself. See you there!