Skate park organizers were ready to do flips after the planned project got $30,000 in support from the town as they apply to access matching funds from a Canada 150 grant.
“It’s pretty exciting. What the town did for us on Monday night is huge. It’s catapulted it to another level,” said a jubilant organizer Dan Reid, noting he hopes the support will pave the way for more people to donate to the skate park.
Brothers Dan and Kirk Reid were in town council chambers for council’s June 27 meeting, talking about their vision for a planned, expanded 20,000 sq. ft. skate park, estimated to cost about $500,000.
The project has $17,000 in the bank from individuals and small businesses, and Dan Reid explained that he was hoping to see the town commit some funds.
“For us to even go to other prospective donors, that’s been asked already,” he said, noting the Elks, Lions and the County of St. Paul had all deferred making decisions about giving the skate park any funds until the Town of St. Paul had decided if it would support the project monetarily.
Reid explained he was hoping to apply for matching, federal funds set aside to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, adding that the deadline to apply was by the end of the week. The other grant the park is looking to access is a CFEP grant through the province.
“We would need the town to give us a letter stating that the land is lease-free for the skate park and that the town would maintain the facility,” said Reid.
Reid acknowledged he was late to bring this to the town’s attention before the Canada 150 grant deadline, but expressed his confidence that if the funding was in place, the facility could be built by the fall of 2017. The entire project would take 10 weeks to complete, from start to finish, he said.
With the new expanded facility built to the newest standards, it would last the lifetime of the town, with Reid saying the benefits to kids and their mental and physical health would be enormous.
“I think it’s well worth its weight in gold.”
However, there has been no site established for the project yet. Eight out of ten people the organizers had asked indicated a preference to see the skate park built at Lagasse, said Reid, but councilors expressed some reservations about this option, with Coun. Ken Kwiatkowski saying he’d like to see something more centrally located.
“What do you think about Racette soccer field?” said Reid, adding he felt this could be an “awesome” alternative if the school board would be open to the possibility.
Kwiatkowski said he thought this would be a good option, but later in the meeting, councillors noted the school board would need more time to make a decision and could have its own reservations.
Town council considered the Reids’ request for financial support later in the meeting, but noted there wasn’t a lot of time to make the decision on a site.
“This is pretty rushed . . . There’s no time to do what he wants,” said Mayor Glenn Andersen. However, council agreed applying for the Canada 150 grant was too good an opportunity for the organizers to miss, and decided to provide $30,000 in monetary support to the project.
Following the meeting, Reid noted there has never been a better time to support the project than now. Donations are tax-deductible and any donations people want to make in the next month can be added to the grant application so it can potentially be doubled, he said.
“As we get commitments, they’ll update that,” he said of the grant.
Reid added he still felt Lagasse was the best location, given its centre as a community hub and premier park and its proximity to local schools, but said there remains time for a decision on a site to be made.
