Orillia recreation site eyed for proposed skateboard park
Awe-inspiring tricks and gravity-defying feats are more than the stuff of dreams.
For members of Orillia’s skateboarding community, these are the moves that draw crowds eager to witness the thrills, and occasional spills, of this increasingly popular sport.
Their dream now includes a proposal for an all-concrete, professionally designed and built skate park — an open-air facility catering to all skill levels.
“You could start from a kid at four-years-old and, three years, four years later be one of the best skateboarders in the world because where you are skating is that good,” said Mark Watson, an advocate of the project.
The proposal is an initiative of the Skateparkers, a group of skateboarders, business owners and friends who came together to encourage active and safe participation in skateboarding and other recreation activities.
The Kiwanis Skateboard Park, built in 1999 at Veterans’ Memorial Park, is time-worn and lacks the features boarders are seeking, the group said.
“It has been a great park for everybody to use, but it is at the point now where we are losing skateboarders when they come to it,” Watson said.
The absence of a modern public facility in Orillia leads children and youth to seek out unsanctioned, and often dangerous, terrain such as local streets and parking lots, the group told council.
Unlike the existing skate park, the proposed facility would have “a lot more obstacles, more flow and roll to it,” Watson said.
A park of between 9,000- and 11,000-square feet would cost between $500,000 and $750,000.
The group plans to seek contributions from service clubs and foundations to fund the project, as well as the municipality.
“We want to go ahead with this as quick as possible, so if we have to raise all the money we are willing to do that,” Watson said.
Locations eyed by the group include Victoria Park and the recreation site on West Street South.
The project could also involve a redevelopment of the Kiwanis Skateboard Park.
“It is a perfect location,” Watson said.
Staff will consider the group’s request as part of the design plan for Foundry Park — the lands surrounding the recreation facility — or other location in the city.