The Town of Gibsons is still struggling to find a location for its new skatepark. A new location was debated by the planning committee on Tuesday.
The site under consideration now is in the southwest corner of Brothers Park.
This site is an area of vacant land between the Catholic Church lane off Park Road and the Field of Dreams fence. The area is 14,000 sq. ft., according to municipal planner Chris Marshall.
"The benefit of this location is that it is not proposed for any other activity and is still close to surrounding commercial and institutional sites," said Marshall in his report to the committee. "The problem with this site is that it is not as visible and close to the recreation centre in Brothers Park. The site is also not as flat and will be more expensive to build. Staff are concerned that the longer the Town waits to construct the skatepark the less the skatepark will get for the budgeted $250,000. The skatepark designer is saying that the originally proposed 10,000 sq. ft. skatepark will have to be reduced in size to seven or eight thousand sq. ft. to meet the budget due to the increased cost of construction. For this reason it is important the Town identifies a new location for the skatepark so the designers can get on with designing a new skatepark that suits the new location and the needs of the skaters in the community."The Town is struggling with the location because the new recreation facility is going to be built in the same location that the skatepark was supposed to be built.
A number of locations have been considered in Brothers Park by staff, but there are issues associated with those sites, including relocating the tennis courts, moving ball fields or encroaching into the already limited parking space for the new community centre.
"I realize this location I have proposed is not the absolute best location, but to start talking about moving ball fields or tennis courts and the costs associated with that is not a viable option," said Marshall. "My concern is this skatepark won't be built."
"I'm not really crazy about it either," added committee member Jim Stobie. "It's not a great place, but it looks like we're running out of options. I don't think we can approve this just because it looks like our only option. Are we cutting off our nose to spite our face?"
After a little more discussion, the committee recommended council and staff investigate this potential site, but not approve the site until more research has been done.
