The “wedge to wedge funbox feature” popular with skateboarders isn’t something Sidney Mayor Steve Price plans to take on, but he’s glad the town is getting one.
Installations like the “funbox” that facilitate jumps and tricks will come once construction starts in February, but right now preloading has just been finished for a new skate park at the north end of Tulista Park.
In that process, a six-foot-deep space has been dug into which $300,000 worth of gravel has been dumped. That mountain of gravel is sitting 10 feet above the hole, compressing the soil to enhance stability for the facility.
“Then you take out as much gravel as you need and build your park on that. We’ll put the surplus gravel at the new fire-hall parking lot,” said Price.
The Tulista location is replacing a skate park south of the Mary Winspear Centre, at Oakville Avenue and Eighth Street. Council has approved a $10-million borrowing plan for an emergency services building in that area.
The existing skate park was constructed about 20 years ago. The new one will be roughly the same size — comparable to a small baseball diamond in a different configuration.
The enormous gravel pile has to sit at Tulista Park for five or six months with marking posts throughout the site measuring how much it’s compressing day to day.
“Once it stops settling, we know it’s safe to go,” Price said.
The $700,000 skate park is set open next July.
The park was designed by New Line Skateparks, which has designed more than 200 parks across North America and Europe including those in Vic West, Nanaimo and Ucluelet.
Youth were in the council chambers applauding in April when council approved the Tulista facility as part of a strategy to provide more amenities for young families amid the senior-friendly community. In 2015, Price sent letters to local schools seeking feedback from youth in the skate park.
Tulista was chosen based on its central location and access to bus service, parking, washrooms and its compatibility with existing park facilities, but council heard from several people with concerns. They said the park’s peace and quiet is popular with elderly people and wildlife will be disturbed.
But Tulista is a high visibility park, which is expected to help curtail “any untoward activities in the skate park,” according to town documents, while increasing the youth footprint.
Tulista Park borders on the upgraded Lochside Walkway, which continues south as far as the North Saanich border. But it isn’t the only park getting a new look.
“Across the street in Iroquois Park, we’ve got water spray parks for kids, all new playgrounds and ponds and beautiful new washroom facilities, concession stands, playing fields and apple orchards,” Price said. “It’s great.”
