A city committee is recommending council approve a tender worth $473,550 for an expansion to the skateboard facility in Muskoseepi Park.
The money would pay for design, construction and a Skate Park Master Plan that would look at future needs.
Recreation and Sport Manager Kylee Haining says the city’s two current skate parks get used a lot.
“There’s as many kids that skateboard as there are that play baseball. That’s statistically the average. The beauty of the skate park (and the) skating activity is that it’s a creative activity. It’s self-directed, it’s very creative, it actually builds lots of skills within youth.”
She adds the new park would be for more than just skateboarders.
“Even the park that we built in 2012 is designed in such a way that it can be used with a traditional skateboard or with a scooter or a BMX bike. The biggest difference is they have to be built more robust for the bikes, because the bikes actually have studs in their tires that will actually cause damage if you don’t build the edges very robust.”
Haining says they don’t know yet how big the park will be.
“There’s going to be an actual design process that will be conducted with the community and so, people will need to watch on the web site and in social media for the opportunity to come out and give your input. The last skate park, we had a really large turn-out of interested people within the community.”
Construction would likely start in the late fall, with the new park being ready for next spring, if council approves the project.
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