Sun Peaks Skate Park Foundation (SPSP) has been working to acquire land for a skate park for over a decade, and have finally put a sign down on the future site.
The president of SPSP, Peter Wilson, said getting to this point has been complicated and challenging.
Now, with a physical location and a geotechnical report of the land, this project can really get underway.
Finding a site
“Getting land anywhere in any municipality is a challenge,” chief administrative officer (CAO) for Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM), Deanna Campbell said. “There’s a shortage of available land to develop on.”
Because of Sun Peaks Resort LLP’s (SPR) master development plan and agreement with the province, the majority of Sun Peaks land is already allocated to something.
The land that is now set to become the skate park is municipal land that was transferred to the school district for the purpose of developing a permanent school in the future.
“We, in turn, have a license of occupation for a portion of the land still,” Campbell said on behalf of the municipality. “That’s the land where the tennis courts are, and the land adjacent to the tennis courts, which is where the future skate park will be built.”
The permanent school will be in another area of the land, she explained, adding that SPMRM always intended to include some recreational amenities on the plot.
Prior to SPSP acquiring this space, Wilson said it was a lay down yard (area to “store” tools, materials and equipment) for builders, the municipality and SPR.
Once the park is operational, it will be run by the municipality, Campbell said.
“Skate parks are absolutely a community asset, especially for youth,” she said. “We’re wanting to ensure that we’re providing recreational amenities for our residents and our guests, so I’m really excited about it.”
Gaining traction and support
Patience and persistence is how SPSP got to this point, Wilson said, adding that while it took a bit to get council on board, they’ve now warmed up to the idea of a skate park.
“I think if anybody gets a big thumbs up for really getting the ball rolling, [it] would be Shane Bourke, he really tee’d it up,” he said. “And then Deanna [Campbell], I mean, the support is getting better and better.”
Eli Williams at Sun Peaks Excavation and Jason White at Powder Ventures Excavations have been a lot of help, he said, both providing in kind donations.
“They’ll be donating time, machines, some labor,” he said. “Powder Ventures will be donating some material from the mine for prep.”
Next step: engineering and design
A geotechnical report, currently in progress, is the next step after placing the sign on the future site. Given the location was prepped when it was originally designated for the ice rink, SPSP will save some money, as well as gaining increased likelihood of a positive report.
Once they get the geotechnical report with results from testing of the soil and site conditions for a skate park, SPSP will have an item to add to their requests for proposals from three construction companies.
“We’ll get three proposals, we’ll pick one,” Wilson explained. “Then over this coming winter, we will be doing engineering and design.”
He’s gotten some artists, coaches and other people together as a creative team with an inner circle of skaters to form a design team.
After consultations with these designated contributors, he said they’ll go broader and see what the public has to say as well.
Financial planning
Once past the planning stage, he said they’ll be in a much better position to receive larger grants for the continuation of the project, having four corners and more to show financers.
Costs for engineering and design will be around the $60,000 to $80,000 range, he said.
“We just got a nice, healthy $25,000 donation from a private citizen,” he said, adding that they’ve received a couple private donations, which helped them get to around $120,000 allotted for the project.
“We were the recipients of the Fireman’s Gala, and the rest has just been the team selling beer and T-shirts and stickers and stuff.”
“We’ll have a better idea how much the entire park’s going to cost after design and engineering is done, but I’m guessing it’s upward of $800,000,” he said.
With continued support of the project past this point, completion of the skate park could be done by 2026.
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