Efforts to raise interest in formulating a group in the community for development and planning of a new skatepark are currently stalled due to a lack of community involvement.
Mayor Lois Maloney hopes to see a renewed interest in the project now that the resurfacing of the second tennis court, formerly occupied by the skatepark equipment, is underway to put the court back to its original purpose.
Council recently passed a motion to allow work to go forward by the Vauxhall Tennis Club on resurfacing the second court, now that the requisite funds have been secured by the club.
“They’ve been working for years to raise funds so that they could resurface the second court, and they’ve done a great job of that,” said Maloney. “In some conversations with some members of the tennis club, council had said if you get your money in place and so on, two things had to happen. They had to get their money in place, and a skatepark group had to form in order to make some decisions regarding the skatepark.”
Maloney indicated the M.D. of Taber is willing to partner in any proposed project if a community group took ownership of the planning and development.
“The reason we wanted a skatepark group to form, to get some interest in the skatepark, is that the M.D. has offered to be a partner to this, to putting a new skatepark or an improved skatepark in Vauxhall, if a community group took some leadership and organized and showed some interest. The tennis club did their job by raising the funds and growing their membership. It’s been a struggle to get a skatepark group formed. Council feels that we would definitely support a skatepark group. We didn’t want to take the lead in it. We’re aware that it’s one of the main activities that the youth in our community enjoy, but at the same time, there’s some models for really successful skateboard parks that have been developed out of community interest. I think the M.D., and we are feeling the same way, that we would like to see that interest come from within our community. Anybody that would be willing to come to the table, that has a little bit of time, and to engage the kids in the process as well, would be welcome.”
The original skatepark equipment had to be removed and decommissioned due to age and safety issues, added Maloney
“We’ve removed the old skatepark equipment, because it was unsafe for kids, so our public-works staff have removed the equipment off of the second court now.”
Any skatepark project will not get off the ground without community involvement, according to Maloney.
“Definitely, if there is to be a new skatepark developed, people would have to step up. Community members — and it’s not limited to anyone, because there will need to be fundraising, there will need to be oversight for the planning and development of a new skatepark.”
The park will remain the most likely location for a new skatepark, although no decisions have been made yet.
“We haven’t talked specifically, but we have mentioned that the park is a nice location. It’s a public space, it’s a safe space, there’s good lighting and it’s in a neighbourhood. When council first chose that second tennis court sight, and that’s maybe before our time, we did wonder if the neighbourhood would have some concerns, and they didn’t express any concerns, and I don’t think just overall, from a noise standpoint, I don’t think there was a lot of problems. Over time, I know there have been some situations where there has been some trash left behind, things like that, that we need to address in the next location for sure. For the safety of the kids, we feel it needs to be in high visibility area, so that would be my rationale for seeing it in the park. I also feel that if it’s in the park, we can build other amenities around it as well, maybe for the adults who might bring their kids there,” said Maloney.
Maloney is confident a group of like-minded citizen can be organized to help make the proposed project a reality in the future.
“We do feel that the skatepark is important. The current skatepark was taken down due to safety issues, and now I believe that there is a will in our community, and a group of people that will step up. I’m confident that a new skatepark will be built, and the town, through our staff and administration, is defiantly willing to be a part of that. And council as well — I know there are councillors who feel very strongly about wanting this developed for the kids. There’s ways that we can help, in securing grant funding and things like that. There would be support and help, both administratively and through council.”