Local skaters will soon be able to “grind” and “grab” in a brand-new Woodlands Skateboard Park, with demolition of the old park underway.
New Line Skateparks is designing St. Albert's new $1.67-million park, and company representatives showed their proposed design through a webinar April 28. Forty-one people attended the webinar.
Woodlands is one of the oldest skate parks in Alberta at 20 years old, and it is due for replacement with concerns around safety and functionality, said St. Albert community recreation supervisor Donna Hinchey.
Demolition on the aging park has already begun, and the webinar was held to get public input on a final design for the new park. Best case scenario, the new park could be open by the end of September.
“We have no doubt that we’re going to have a great park at the end of it, so it’s a super exciting process,” Hinchey said. Design elements will be particularly focused on catering to all ages and abilities, and the park will be accessible to many wheeled devices, including BMX bikes, skateboards, scooters and in-line skates.
New Line manager of design operations Rob Eng said after their first open house, feedback indicated most users wanted to see bowl/transition terrain style terrain included in designs.
“It’s going to be a park that will try to cater for all terrain types, but with a heavy emphasis on the transition side of things,” he said. Transition elements typically include “empty” swimming pools, bowls and halfpipes.
Currently there are two bowls included in the proposed design: a “flow” bowl and a deeper “pool-style” bowl below, which are bordered by obstacle terrain. On average the flow bowl is four feet deep, and the pool bowl will be between five feet two inches and eight feet two inches.
In keep with the neighbourhood, Eng said the park will feature a Woodlands theme, including logs and flowing lines reminiscent of the Sturgeon River.
Webinar attendees were presented with four key design options to present feedback on, including a centre feature in the middle of the flow bowl, corner features, design of the pool bowl and quarter pipe.
