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Organizers look for home for skatepark

The location for a proposed St. Paul BMX and Skatepark was discussed at the Nov. 9 town council meeting, with those spearheading the project putting forward their proposal that the concrete structure should be in Lagasse Park.

The location for a proposed St. Paul BMX and Skatepark was discussed at the Nov. 9 town council meeting, with those spearheading the project putting forward their proposal that the concrete structure should be in Lagasse Park.

Kirk Reid who, along with his brother Dan, has been working on raising funds for the project, told council that $17,000 so far has been donated by individuals and small businesses, while Northern Source Rentals has also made a donation of a gift in-kind. The goal is to collect $230,000, in donations or with gifts in kind, to be able to access matching grants to build the first phase of the park, at a cost estimated at $450,000 to $500,000.

His purpose in attending council was to nail down a park location to progress with a design that takes into account the site features.

“St. Paul is blessed with so many parks,” Reid said, but given the scale of the project, which he estimated as being the size of half a football field, the park would need to be large enough to accommodate it.

“It’s going to attract people from out of town and kids daily,” he said. Reid pointed out that quite a few people use the current skatepark, but given its smaller relative size, only a few people can use it comfortably at a time.

Upon fielding a question from Coun. Ken Kwiatkowski , Reid said he could see up to 200 people congregating in the area for competitions, including 25 to 50 skaters, their friends, family and other spectators.

“If it’s nice enough, it will be a community attraction as well.”

Lagasse seemed like a logical choice, Reid said, with the only negative comments about that location from people he has spoken to being the sometimes strong smell.

“Already there’s a community hub there,” he said, pointing to the splash park, the workout area, playgrounds and green space. If a skate park was located there as well, he felt it would draw young and old alike to create a sense of community. “It could be the site that everyone uses.”

His suggestion was to put the park directly west of the toboggan hill.

“Your worship, there’d be less grass to cut,” said Coun. Don Padlesky to laughter.

Council noted that if the skatepark was made of concrete, it would be less noisy than the current structure.

When asked if there were other locations he would consider, Reid said another possibility would be the fields next to Racette School, but said he foresaw more issues in negotiating with the school board to use that space. Other locations discussed included the RCMP Park and the town staging area on the northeast side of town.

Mayor Glenn Andersen noted one of the hurdles that needed to be crossed when the splash park was built in Lagasse was the concern from nearby residents about things like noise, parking and traffic increasing in the area. He suggested that organizers talk to residents and invite them to a meeting to give them information and get their feedback.

“I think you’re going to have to try,” he said, with Reid taking on the suggestion.

Coun. Judy Bogdan asked who had been funding all the work skatepark organizers had done so far, and Reid explained all the work was being done voluntarily, motivated by the personal loss of their brother to suicide.

“There was a desire to give youth in this town something better to do,” he said. He said he saw for himself the “endless” possibilities for youth with this project.

“You can see the change in their attitude when attention is given to them.”

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