Photo: Westsyde Community Development Society

The Westsyde Community Development Society is inviting community members to a design workshop for a proposed skate park it hopes to begin constructing next year.

Residents in Westsyde are hoping to break ground on a new skate park by next year, but first they want to hear from the community what should be included in the proposed project.

Elisa Houchen, Westsyde Community Development Society president, said the proposed skate park would be located on a 8,000 square foot parcel of land in Westsyde Centennial Park near the existing pump track.

She said the society hopes the project will get the green light when it is presented to Kamloops city council within the next several months.

“Everybody that I spoke to, including the people at the city, are very positive about this project and they really would like to see it move forward,” Houchen said.

The society is holding a workshop with community members on the design for the proposed project May 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Arthur Stevenson School Gym.

“This meeting is more about taking the pulse of the community and saying, ‘What do you want to see here?’ This is a project that we really want to come to fruition, but we need feedback,” Houchen said.

Once the design of the park is determined, Houchen said the society will have a clearer picture of the estimated cost. Currently, the project is estimated to range from $350,000 to $500,000.

The society is aiming to raise the funds needed for the project, including through its annual Westsyde Days event held in June, and hope to take data following Thursday's workshop to potential funding sources.

Houchen is the mother of two young skateboarders and says the Westsyde neighbourhood is in need of more amenities for teenagers.

“It's just having another point of contact, having another place where kids can go to learn and having something for the youth that are in our community,” she said.

She said the MacArthur Island skate park can be too crowded for younger skateboard-enthusiasts to train their skills, and the proposed project would be closer to home for those in the community.

Newline Skateparks, which designed the MacArthur Island Skate Park, has been hired by the society to assist with a feasibility study and to gather data that would push the project from “dream project” to reality, Houchen said.

She said the society hopes to break ground on the proposed project by next year.