It won’t include a new halfpipe, but the newest development at Stratford’s all-wheels skatepark will benefit the surrounding environment and provide hands-on learning experiences for local students, the project’s community partners say.
It won’t include a new halfpipe, but the newest development at Stratford’s all-wheels skatepark will benefit the surrounding environment and provide hands-on learning experiences for local students, the project’s community partners say.
Students from Stratford District secondary school will help the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority install four rain gardens at the park this fall. Among the native shrubs, perennials and wildflowers that will be planted are wild bergamot students began growing in the school’s greenhouses earlier this year.
“Instead of being in the classroom, I think (the pandemic) has taught us to get outside,” green industries teacher Christine Ritsma said during a visit to the park with the project’s other partners on Thursday. “It hits content, experiential learning, and also being a good citizen. The kids are excited about doing this project because they’re participants in this skatepark … so it’s really cool.”
Spearheaded by a local business owner, Bruce Whitaker, the first phase of the skatepark was built in 2017. A pump track was added a year later, and the park has since been well used by area skateboarders, rollerbladers and scooter riders.
Although the park’s next phase will not include concrete, Whitaker said the rain gardens will be an important addition that will help protect the trees that made its Downie Street location so appealing in the first place.
“Our concern is that with increasing drought-like conditions, the trees will not have the water they need to survive and flourish,” Whitaker said.
During of heavy rainfall, meanwhile, sections of the park, including some periods of the ramps, become inaccessible due to standing water. Rain gardens can help with both issues, said Vanni Azzano, a community education supervisor with the area’s conservation authority. Installed in shallow depressions that have loose, deep soil, rain gardens allow native plants to more efficiently absorb and filter stormwater, removing up to 90 per cent of chemicals and 80 per cent of sediments from runoff.
Azzano said amended soil will allow rainwater to be cleaned as it infiltrates while native wildflowers will attract a variety of beneficial insects, including pollinators, and the project will include a community education component.
“We’re treating water as a resource so, whenever it rains, we’re keeping it here on site and not sending it somewhere else,” Azzano said. “That’s what I like about low-impact (development). You can do these rain garden or infiltration bowls … on your private property.”
Quin Malott, Stratford’s parks manager, said the new rain gardens will be a first on city-owned land. Projects like this also reduce maintenance costs for city hall, he added.
“A lot of the maintenance around (the all-wheels park) is done by user groups and it educates the kids,” Malott said. “Maybe they can look at doing stuff like this at home. That’s what we’re trying to promote; conservation and water protection.”
The cost of the project is estimated to be around $39,000, most of which is being funded by grants offered to the conservation authority.
Whitaker and Pazzo Pizza owner Larry McCabe also donated $5,000 each.
A community fundraiser will be required to fund the final $5,000 of the project, Whitaker said. Anyone interested in donating can contact him directly via email: [email protected].
“By putting in money (the community) is engaged in the project and that’s our hope – that we can get people to participate and contribute to the rain gardens so that they have a real interest in the park,” Whitaker said.