With revised plans in place for a skate park here, the committee working to make the project a reality will hold a public meeting this coming Tuesday.
The meeting—slated for 7 p.m. in the conference room upstairs at the Memorial Sports Centre—will feature Andrew Kondrat, a pro skateboarder and snowboarder and skate park designer with Steinbach-based contractor Barkman Concrete.
“He’s going to speak about Barkman, the parks they’ve done, the products they make, the flexibility they offer, the quality of their product, and the maintenance involved in having a skate park,” committee chair Rob Tovey noted.
He added Kondrat also will speak specifically about the updated design for the skate park here—a permanent modular facility which would feature a variety of ramps, stairs, rails, half-pipes, and above-ground concrete bowls.
“He’ll be willing to answer all questions,” said Tovey. “We’d like to get as many people out as possible. It’s open to everyone.”
Tovey stressed this meeting is very important, considering it “the next step” in the process to make the skate park a reality this year.
“We also want to get things going with the fundraising,” he added, noting that subject also will be broached at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Tovey said the skate park committee already has about $118,000 in place to build a park. Its target goal is $275,000 in order to have a facility done to the specifications in the most recent plans.
He added the committee must be able to tell Barkman Concrete exactly what it wants for the park this year by the end of April, and commit the respective amount of funds at that time.
This means there’s less than two months left to do the fundraising for any work on the skate park this year.
While Tovey said he’d love to see the entire project completed this summer, he admitted it’s quite possible the community will see a park built with only some of the features included in the current plans.
But this still means local skateboarders and in-line skaters would not have to wait until next year for a place to skate.
The park could be built in about eight-nine weeks. After being ordered from Barkman Concrete, the modular components take about six weeks to make and then be shipped here for installation.
In the meantime, a local contractor would be hired to lay down a concrete base at the site. This could take between four and five weeks, said Tovey.
Once the modular components arrive here, they can be installed in about two weeks.
If the components are ordered by the beginning of May, the park potentially could be completed by the end of June or early July.
Fundraising would continue throughout the year in order to raise money to complete the park next year.
While a site for the skate park still hasn’t been determined, Tovey feels an ideal one would be to the east of the Memorial Sports Centre where the tennis courts now sit.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
