Island’s new $600,000 skate park set to take shape in Pointe-Claire
Skateboarders in the West Island will soon be able to ollie, kick-flip and grind closer to home, thanks to a new 12,000-square-foot skate park to be built in Pointe-Claire. Citizens can get a sneak peek at what’s to come during an information meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pointe-Claire City Hall, 451 St.Jean Blvd. The presentation will include a 3D video illustrating all the proposed features of the park. The skate park’s designer, Dan Vezina, said although many of Quebec’s great skateboarders have come from the West Island, the sport has suffered from a lack of local facilities. Most skaters travel to Verdun, Longueuil or VaudreuilDorion to find a park where they can practise, he said. The $600,000 skate park will be located next to the city’s aquatic centre (near the intersection of Douglas-Shand and Maywood Aves.), not far from John Rennie High School. Vezina said it will be the only one in the West Island to feature street, bowl and halfpipe features, and will comfortably accommodate as many as 40 skaters at a time. “It’s going to be a really fun park,” said Vezina. “It’s a very modern skate park and unique in its design.” Vezina, who has been creating skate parks for 30 years, said the Pointe-Claire park includes a nod to the iconic “Big O” skate park at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. “We had the blueprints from ’76, so we designed a replica section of the Big O in the skate park,” said Vezina. “It looks like a cresting wave. It’s not the same as the Big O, but has a similar feel.” Another unusual feature is the 16-foot-high capsule cupping one end of the skate park’s bowl. “It’s a super fun feature on a bowl and it’s very impressive to skate,” said Vezina. Plans for the skate park will be revised based on feedback from Thursday ’s consultation meeting. Construction is expected to begin this year and a late fall 2018 opening is possible, though it may be pushed to spring 2019, said city spokesman Marie-Pier Paquette-Séguin.