The latest hitch in the quest to build an outdoor skatepark in the Nelson and District Community Complex parking lot has some members of the area’s recreation commission wondering if it’s not time to find the park yet another site.
Members of the Nelson and District Recreation Commission were told Thursday that the spot proposed for the park is one of the primary storm-water drainage sites for the NDCC parking lot. Because the park would be built on fill, the area also needs to be tested for stability.
Acting recreation manager Jodi Vousden, who is working on a service analysis of the park for the commission, says the engineering studies needed would cost about $5,000.
While there are ways to build the park so it doesn’t cause problems in the parking lot, Vousden says preparing the land for construction could be a costly process.
“You can build anything on any piece of land, it’s just a matter of how much it’s going to cost to put it there,” she says. “If it’s going to cost more to fix the piece of land to build the skatepark on it than the park’s going to cost, than maybe [the Kootenay Lake Outdoor Skatepark Society] doesn’t want to fundraise twice as much money.”
The skatepark society has committed to paying for the park’s construction in full, and had already commissioned a draft design which would cost about $400,000 to build.
Society president Rob Levesque says the group had no idea the site was a major drainage point when it was chosen.
“It’s things we’re discovering as we go along,” he says. “I’m hoping that there’s a solution, a simple enough solution that doesn’t cost too much money.”
Several of the city councillors and RDCK directors who sit on the recreation commission balked at the thought of shelling out $5,000 for a survey that could reveal the parking lot isn’t the right spot for the park. Area E director Ramona Faust, who’s expressed reservations about funding the park in the past, said she doesn’t think her constituents “have much romance for new facilities.”
Councillor Marg Stacey told the commission the skate park society should pay the $5,000 for the analysis itself, the same way property developers do if they want to build in the city.
“It’ll be a reality check for them,” she added.
While the society and the commission haven’t reached an agreement yet, Levesque seems willing to meet that particular demand.
“There’s some things that we’ll have to take on,” he says. “It’s not all ironed out yet, but it’s just part of the process. It’s okay.”
The viability of the site isn’t the only issue still being worked out. There’s also the question of whether the park will become a city or regional district responsibility.
Vousden says she’s looking at the various costs of running the park, including maintenance and programming, and hopes to have final recommendations to make to council by February 11.
If the commission decides to make the park a city responsibility, the northwest corner of the parking lot could be subdivided and turned over to Nelson. If it stays regional, the park will be run through the NDCC.
The commission originally expected to hear recommendations on the skatepark in October of last year, but the process stalled when the NDCC’s previous manager of recreation services left the position. Given the pace of discussion so far, Levesque says he can’t tell if building a park is actually a priority for the city.
“I’m trying not to feel anything,” he adds. “Because it’s just taking so long that I could be so frustrated and so angry over this. So I’m just coasting and trying to jump through all the hoops and just keep going until we have a resolution.”