Durham Arena Skate Park (Photo from West Grey Council presentation)
West Grey council has received a proposal for an all wheel park development at the Durham arena and will look at options on how to implement it.
During a Feb. 21 meeting, council received a delegation from Patrick Flood of Elephant Thoughts, a registered charity supporting positive change through education.
Flood says with the cost of other sports and sport equipment on the rise, having an all wheel park provides an alternative to team sports, as well as online and indoor entertainment.
A new resident to West Grey, Flood says he has been skateboarding for about 15 years and has always found a spot where he would be able to enjoy his hobby.
“I found it quite difficult to find spaces in my new community,” says Flood. “We are a growing community, I think I’m representative of that, I am a younger person who just moved here to a new community. I think an all wheel park is a really important space to have in the community for a number of reasons.”
Flood says by having this park in the community, not only does it help relieve stress, it is also able to offer a social sport without a competitive nature, as well as offering a place for cardio and strength workouts, while also being affordable and addressing a younger demographic.
The park would allow residents to bring their bikes, skateboards and scooters.
There is currently existing skate infrastructure in Durham, Mount Forest and Hanover, but Flood says the concrete is hard and does not allow for skateboards and scooters to move freely and the obstacles are not safe.
Flood proposes adding three new obstacles next to the existing infrastructure at the Durham arena, including a large mini-ramp or halfpipe, a grind rail, and a grind ledge.
“I don’t want to suggest that we are building a park like they would build in Toronto. I recognize it is not the time for that kind of addition, but I am suggesting that we could add some aspects that would elevate it and make this an accessible sport in this community,” says Flood.
The purposed development comes with a just over $63,000 price tag.
“I have explored quite a few grants that are available for this, including the TD Park People Grant, Canada Healthy Communities Initiatives, the Canada Community Building Fund, FCC AgriSpirit Fund, and the Ontario Community Building Fund,” says Flood. “There are options out there to help finance this project.”
Mayor Kevin Eccles says it is a project which requires more research.
“We can explore the options of where we are going to go, and explore the funding opportunities for the development of this going forward,” says Eccles.