Blake Deal
The Navigator
The construction of Cedar’s new skateboard park has finished and is now open to the public.
On February 1, the park that has taken over ten years to build opened to skaters. The park is located on the south-eastern corner of the Cedar Community Secondary School property off of Walsh Road.
“The Cedar community has waited over ten years for this park, and I have noticed at least three dozen youth using the facility every day since it opened,” said Alec McPherson, Regional District of Nanaimo Director for Electoral Area A. “I understand that the official youth rating for the skate park is ‘sick’, so it looks like we got the design right. The official grand opening is set for May 24, 2014, and I look forward to celebrating with the community.”
The park is 930 square metres with obstacles built for beginner and intermediate riders. The park can hold up to 50 people at any given time.
“Over the years, we have had a tremendous amount of support from the community for building a skate park in our area, and the youth were extremely involved in the development and design process,” said Vicki Suddaby, Chair of the Cedar Skate Park Association. “It was exciting to receive the funding we needed to move ahead with the construction.”
The construction of the park cost $589K. The province contributed $439,410 through the Community Regeneration Grant, the RDN gave $99.5K, and the Cedar community fundraised $50K.
Though the park is now open to the public, the official grand opening is scheduled for May 24.