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Vancouver skateboarders to get temporary downtown park

Park board approves temporary skate park as downtown plaza to be demolished with viaducts
skateboarding viaduct
Leifer Stieler, 16, rides a rail in the Downtown Skate Plaza on August 10, 2010. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The disappearance of the Downtown Skateboard Plaza will leave a “giant gaping hole” in Vancouver’s skate and sport infrastructure, Jeff Cole told the park board Monday night.

He urged commissioners to support the creation of a temporary skate park near Andy Livingston Park since the popular plaza, which is not only sheltered from the weather but massive at 2,000 square metres, will be torn up once the city begins to remove the viaducts.

The future 13-acre "legacy" park in Northeast False Creek beside Andy Livingston Park will reimagine the shoreline and neighbourhood but will be several years’ in the making, the end date coming anywhere between 2021 and 2015. Tentative plans show a road running through the existing skate park.

It could be seven years before the demolished plaza is replaced with a new, permanent downtown skateboard destination within the updated and expanded park where the viaducts now stand. In the meantime, the park board is considering options for a temporary skate park, one at a nearby location that could itself become permanent.

Cole, the president of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, said such a timeframe “is far too long to leave the skateboarders literally out on the street” while construction takes over.

skateboard viaduct park downtown
The Downtown Skate Plaza will become a historical relic but a new park will take its place. Seen here, Ethan Craig, 13, works on his kick flip August 10, 2010. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The park board voted unanimously May 15 in favour of a temporary skate park to replace the plaza, but they are not yet considering locations or other essential details like design and size. The vote approved public consultation, which will begin this summer.

The downtown plaza has features suitable for skaters of different skill levels, making it a place that appeals to the entire community.

“Person-to-person mentorship and participation is a very big part of skateboarding,” said Cole, advocating for parks that have a range of features. “Separation based on what people think to be a good beginner skate park and an advanced one is only detrimental to our culture and our community. The loss of this [plaza] would leave thousands of users without a safe place to engage in an active and safe sport.”

Skateboarding is included in the park board’s strategic recreation plan though the dedicated skateboard strategy has lapsed. National statistics show team sport participation drops dramatically by the age of 20 but skateboarding follows a different trend as a self-directed sport that lasts into adulthood, is flexible, unstructured and adaptable with low barriers to participation.

The plaza, built in 2004 for $220,000, is one of the busiest skate parks in the city. It was upgraded in 2011 for $70,000. Because of its unique location downtown, its removal could mean hundreds of skaters use other urban features like benches, staircases and sidewalks also shared by other residents.

A city survey last year found 60 per cent of the plaza’s skaters visit the park more than once every week for up to three hours at a time.

Funding for a temporary site will come from the city’s capital budget and will be in place for at least five years, according to park board staff. The size and features of the Downtown Plaza will be replicated as best as possible.

Staff will now evaluate three sites and seek feedback from the public as well as proposals from park designers.

Beginning in a few months but at a still unspecified time, there will be two open houses and eight stakeholder meetings including the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, businesses, community centres, schools, police and residents.

The concept design is expected in 2018 and the new (temporary, maybe) park should be open before the viaducts come down. 

mstewart@vancourier.com

Twitter: @MHStewart