Plans are moving ahead quickly for a new skate park in Waterford.
Tom O’Hara, a volunteer board member for the project, said about 80 per cent of the funding – the park will cost an estimated $750,000, which includes in-kind donations of services and materials – has been collected.
“We’ve raised about $600,000 in cash and in-kind donations to date,” O’Hara said on Tuesday. “We had calls from local businesses that donated $15,000 in cash just last week. We’ve had tremendous support from the community. This is going to be a very well used facility.”
The County of Norfolk has provided 1.25 acres of land adjacent to the Waterford Heritage Museum for the skate park. O’Hara said the park will be about 7,500 square feet in size and be built for the use of skateboards, scooters and BMX bikes.
“We wanted to design something multi-dimensional,” said O’Hara. “Parks that are one-dimensional tend to leave out the larger groups of users.”
He said youth and young adults on scooters are the largest group of users, followed by BMX riders and then skateboarders.
Waterford is currently without a skate park. There is a makeshift BMX park off of the Waterford Heritage Trail, said O’Hara, but it’s on provincial government land and “isn’t the safest for use.”
“We want the skate park to be safe and accessible for all,” he said.
Volunteers behind the skate park meet every two weeks to advance the project and have consulted with youth about the components they want the most, including ramps, pipes, curbs, pads and ledges.
The park will be big enough for 50 people to use at a time. It will be made of concrete that will require little maintenance, said O’Hara.
“We don’t want this to cost the taxpayer for maintenance down the road.”
O’Hara said the skate park board is reaching out to a local engineering firm and should have a draft drawing to share with the public by late fall.
The plan is to begin construction by next spring with a projected opening in July.
Come Kick It, a park build fundraiser and barbecue, with silent and live auctions, will be held on Sept. 18 from 4 pm to 9 pm at the Waterford Legion.
Tickets are $65 and can be purchased at Kerry’s St. James Street Eatery, Villages of Waterford, and Waterford Appliances and More. Tickets can also be purchased through the Waterford Skate Park Facebook page.
The event will feature live music from Norfolk-based band The Shrubberies.