Skate park work could start by late June

After being talked about for more than two years, work on the Kiwanis skate park finally could start by the end of June or beginning of July, committee chair Steve Maki said.
“We met with the town last week and they’ve come up with an agreement,” Maki said Tuesday. “We’re still sorting out the details, but if we get it signed, it will go before council at its next meeting [May 10].”
Maki noted the details being worked out were “things I can’t disclose at this time,” but he added that previous setbacks, like ensuring the park site didn’t take up parking spaces at the Memorial Sports Centre, no longer were problems.
“If everything falls into place in the next little while, we’ll get it out to tender. By the end of June, we could see the shovel in the ground,” he enthused.
Mayor Dan Onichuk said he’s confident the skate park will become a reality this year.
“Both parties have an understanding of what needs to be done,” he remarked. “There’s been a contract sent back to [the] skate park committee for them to work through.
“Council is all but committed to the bridge financing,” he added.
Mayor Onichuk said for all intents and purposes, the hurdles are out of the way, noting the skate park committee getting its ducks in a row right now is “just a formality.”
“Let’s move ahead. If things happen quickly, we could see something happen in another month or so,” he predicted.
While the previous council had pledged $25,000 to the skate park project, the current one had to take that out of the 2004 budget due to fiscal constraints.
But earlier this year, town management was directed by council to come up with a list of conditions the skate park committee must meet before the town would consider giving it “bridge funding” to help build the $250,000 park.
But now that the skate park committee is striving to meet those conditions, Mayor Onichuk said it’s possible the town may provide a loan to the project in case it can’t raise enough funds to pay for itself prior to completion.
This loan would be paid back—with interest—as soon as the skate park committee could raise the money.
Maki noted about $110,000 has been raised so far for the project, including pledges from the brick campaign.
He admitted the committee hasn’t really been promoting the brick campaign—whereby local individuals and businesses purchase personalized bricks that will be installed at the skate park—in recent months.
“It’s been difficult to do [promote the bricks]. People are saying, ‘Is it [the skate park] going to happen or not?’” Maki said. “But we’ll go into hyper-overdrive as soon as construction starts.”
The skate park committee, with help from Community Services manager George Bell, also has submitted an application for a grant from the Trillium Fund, with the hope of getting up to $75,000.
Maki noted recent word that both Dryden and Kenora also are looking at building similar skate parks—permanent concrete structures consisting of rails and bowl-like formations—was proof the one to be built here isn’t an anomaly.
“Obviously, there’s interest in those communities. Skate parks are popping up all over the place,” he remarked. “There’s more kids skateboarding than participating in almost any other sport!”