City council has approved advancing the Dease Park Urban Skate Plaza Concept Plan in the future, although the plan’s advancement will be subject to budget considerations.
Budget considerations will play a key role as city council looks to find 2 million dollars to save in the budget. The estimated cost of this project currently sits at over 1 million dollars.
During a February Committee of the Whole Meeting, Council directed Administration to proceed with public engagement of the draft concept plan of a proposed skate park/urban skate plaza to be located on the former Dease Pool site and report back by September 30, 2,023 on a preferred concept plan.
The public engagement report found that there is a lot of support for the concept plan and it would fill a need in the south side inner city neighborhood, the support did not come without concerns though.
The main concern noted was the sound from the park affecting residents boarding the park. Administration has a noise attenuation wall included within the concept to help with the concern. The city provided an acoustical engineer with the concept plan to evaluate the city’s proposed noise reduction wall, and they found it would be effective in minimizing sound, and no adjustments were necessary.
There is still a long way to go before any new project is confirmed for Dease Park.