‘Less screen time, more outdoor time’
WATERLOO — Waterloo may build up to three more neighbourhood skateboard parks plus one or more dirt bike circuits as the City revives a dormant plan to expand action sports for kids.
“Our kids need less screen time and more outdoor time,” Mayor Dave Jaworsky said.
Children using skateboard parks don’t have to be tied to programmed sports and the City doesn’t have to hire staff to oversee them, City officials said.
“It’s very important that young people have a place where they can just drop in. We have a strong need for that in the community,” said Karen Anderson, a landscape architect at City Hall who’s leading the project.
Waterloo opened a central skateboard and bicycle motocross (BMX) facility on Father David Bauer Drive in 2012. A year later, council directed staff to move forward on a plan for a network of smaller, neighbourhood venues. That process stalled for five years while the city worked on bigger plans for parks and neighbourhoods. It resumed this week when council voted to hire a consultant.
The central skateboard park is popular, but few kids live nearby. The proposal calls for neighbourhood skateboard/BMX venues at three sites: the Harper library branch and YMCA in the west end, the Albert McCormick Community Centre and library in the north, and RIM Park in the northeast.
“Each would be similar but unique,” Anderson said.
Sites were chosen because children living nearby could walk, ride or skateboard to them. They have shelter, washrooms, access to food and other activities.
New skateboard parks could be slightly smaller than the central skateboard park or much smaller, depending on funding and site constraints. The city may also consider installing a mountain bike circuit with a dirt surface at RIM Park.
Skateboarder Matthew Dragosits, 15, said he would use new facilities if the city builds them. He skates often at Waterloo’s central facility and was there Tuesday.
“It’s a good thing to take my mind off things,” he said. He likes to give tips to younger kids who are learning to skateboard, and he welcomes the change of pace a different site would provide. “It’s always good to see some new stuff,” he said.
Nothing would be built until next summer or later, pending council approval of a final cost that’s still to be determined. “Getting them started in the next two years, absolutely,” Anderson said.
The city will now hire a consultant to canvass the public and deliver constructionready drawings. Council has already set aside almost $1 million to plan, design and help fund neighbourhood sites. If more money is needed, council will decide in future budget deliberations, Anderson said.