Plans are underway to get digging on the Trail All Wheel Park early in July.
With the build being so close to the Columbia River, a permit is required by the Ministry of Environment in addition to the typical construction tickets.
“The contract has been awarded to New Line Skateparks, and the budget is all set through the capital planning process,” explained Trisha Davison, the city’s parks and recreation director. “Where we are at in the schedule of work is getting all the permitting in place.”
Now in the final design phase, the project is almost shelf ready.
“We had a rendering done many moons ago for this site,” said Davison. “But now, when they get down to actually developing the true construction documents, that’s where they really fine tune all the last-minute details of the park itself, so they are then ready to go both on the engineering-side and on the construction-side in July.”
The site, which is located next to the Gyro Park boat launch, includes a number of skate park features - such as a 3.5-foot turn-around taco quarter pipe, a slappy bank, and a wedge-to-wedge with rooftop edge - as well as a plan for rip-rap protection between the edge of the park deck and the beach area.
“All those final bits and pieces are being done in the background and coming together,” said Davison. “Completion is expected to be reached by the end of September, the goal is to be in-use this fall.”
The project’s budget sits at $700,000 including contingencies.
Columbia Basin Trust has contributed $150,000 toward the park through a recreation infrastructure grant, Friends of the Trail Sk8 Park Society has raised $72,000 plus $10,000 in-kind donations, and the Murphy Foundation (owner of Trail Smoke Eaters) has donated $30,000.
The $448,000 balance will be covered through municipal taxes.
The project has been on the books since 2003, when Trail council held a public consultation to review potential locations for a skate park. Back then, the new build was estimated to cost about $200,000.
Gyro Park was the chosen site that year, but backlash from neighbouring residents forced the city to re-think the locale. The Gulch turnaround was subsequently chosen as the grounds for the facility.
The skate park was put on hold year after year as estimated costs escalated and concerns about the Rossland Avenue location were raised. Fast forward to 2010, after being lobbied by local youth, city council put the project on the slate although location continued to pose discourse in the community. “Not in my back yard” appeared to be the consensus.
One year later the Gulch site was cemented as the spot, a series of public consultations resumed, and New Line Skate Parks came on board with conceptual site designs.
After years of debate about cost-sharing, in 2012, the city committed to pay one half - or $275,000 -toward construction. The other half would have to raised by the skate park society.
The venture remained at a standstill until 2014, when lack of a Trail skate park became a hot topic during the municipal election. At that time, all candidates said they would take a serious look at finally getting the facility built.
Now called the “Trail All Wheel Park,” the project was taken off the back burner in early 2015 and the site was moved back to Gyro Park. Current council listed the project as a strategic priority in November 2016 and last fall, the city confirmed it would be in the 2018 capital plan.
