The West Shore is officially getting its long-awaited skate park, with a grand opening set for March 2023.
The West Shore Parks and Recreation Society announced Friday (May 13) the build of what will be a 13,000-square-foot facility.
Located in Colwood on the grounds of West Shore Parks and Recreation, the park is being designed by Vancouver-based New Line Skateparks, in partnership with van der Zalm + Associates Inc., one of Canada’s most experienced municipal skate park build teams, according to a news release.
“Since October 2015, our West Shore communities of (now) almost 84,000 residents, have been missing a key piece of recreational infrastructure for our youth,” said board chair Kyara Kahakauwila. “We are now able to move forward with our plans to create a 13,000-square-foot multi-use space for our youth in collaboration with the users and our collective communities. Mental and physical health are intertwined, even more so for young minds; with this new infrastructure being brought to our communities we will once again have a safe gathering place for youth to socialize, be physically active and gain confidence as they develop their skills.”
The park replaces the Belmont skate park, which was demolished in 2015.
For more than six years, a committed group of community members forming the Westshore Skate Park Coalition and West Shore Parks and Recreation staff have advocated and fundraised for a park in the area.
Jimmy Miller, coalition president, said “on behalf of the youth and young at heart, the Westshore Skatepark Coalition is stoked to announce that we are finally at this stage. While our journey is not yet complete, the ending is oh so near, and we can’t wait to roll on some rad new terrain.”
The conceptual design for the park, which was created in 2017 by New Line Skate Parks, and more information on the project, can be found at wspr.ca.
READ MORE: Colwood to explore contributing additional funding to make skatepark a reality
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