Summerland skate park

[twobits]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton ... rolling-on

I am all for youth activities but come on.......was there no better way to spend 500k in gift gas tax money than a skate park??

[seewood]

Great, they let everyone know how much there is to spend, now go look for contractors to build.. Bet it will cost $600,000.
What about using gas funds to repair the deplorable state of many roads in Summerland? No shortage of suspension twisting, tire flattening, rim bending holes in the roads around town.

[fluffy]

Those rainbow cross-walks are due for a fresh coat. So much to do, so little time.

[RandyDandy]

Went to the recycle today do get rid of an old computer but that area of the dump was closed...but I did notice on My trip that
Prairie Valley road was an incredible mess of potholes and broken pavement complete with a river flowing down the north side.
Once I got to Bathville road however and proceeded to the dump, the road was smooth as glass and in excellent repair. Main Street is a mess as are most roads in Summerland and council wants to build a $600,000 skateboard park? What are they smoking?

[Tootsie]

RandyDandy, they're obviously smoking the same thing that the District of Lake Country council are smoking. Our roads in Lake Country are a minefield of broken shoulders and potholes that never get fixed properly to last. But somehow there's always money to put in frivolous things like little walking paths along the beachfront in Okanagan Centre (when years ago a survey of LC residents said "leave the foreshore alone and in it's natural state).

I shook my head at this comment :
Erick Thompson, chair of the Summerland skatepark committee, said the idea to build a new skate park has been in the making for several years — dating back to the previous district council.
He added a skatepark is a necessity for every community to have, and said the new park will make a big difference in Summerland.

So a skatepark is a necessity now is it? Really?
I would think safe roads would be. The rest of the world survives just fine without a skatepark.

[twobits]

I think what is most disturbing to me, is that this is funds received from gasoline taxes. While what these funds are used for is not restricted, would it not make sense that they were used for a transportation themed purposes?
And no, I don't consider skateboards to be a transportation mode except for maybe 100 kids in Summerland. Instead, 600k is spent for a play park for a few. Nuts....just nuts!

[spooker]

For everyone complaining about the $500k not being used for road maintenance ... building a kilometre of road is about $2MM ... so with that $500k you could build roughly 250 metres of new road ... let's estimate that it costs 5% of the original cost to repair a road and then we can repair 5 kilometres ... how many k's of road does Summerland have? It sounds like a skatepark could be a better "bang for the buck" then figuring out which small parts of the roadway to fix ...

[southy]

Really unfortunate that there is no real major new development on the horizon for Summerland. Sounds like the tax base could sure use the additional $$ for infrastructure. Just sayin Oh sorry, we've been down that road recently haven't we???

[pentona]

For everyone complaining about the $500k not being used for road maintenance ... building a kilometre of road is about $2MM ... so with that $500k you could build roughly 250 metres of new road ... let's estimate that it costs 5% of the original cost to repair a road and then we can repair 5 kilometres ... how many k's of road does Summerland have? It sounds like a skatepark could be a better "bang for the buck" then figuring out which small parts of the roadway to fix ...

Nobody said that they wanted NEW roads built; just fix the problems with existing ones. 500 grand would fix every pothole/crack in town easily and then some.

[OllyV]

I am sure the Summerland Resistance Brigade can see no benefit in this park but there are plenty of young families who will enjoy a safe place in the right location where their kids can get outside and have some fun.

This is exactly the kind of project that is a perfect fit for an unexpected cash infusion.

Is it possible for just once, please just one single time, for the complaineratti to shut their whining mouths and stay out of an improvement being brought to the community? It has become so frustratingly predictable that no matter how big or small the change there is a certain contingent in this community that just has to resist every single thing.

For once, do us all a favour, and stay home and scream at the local kids to get off your lawn.

Please council, for the love of god, do not allow a public hearing on this. Do not, under any circumstances, ask a single person over 70 to weigh in on this. We appreciate the wisdom and experience but.... let's let the younger folks who will actually still be here have a say on what kind of community they want Summerland to be 20 years from now

Nobody said that they wanted NEW roads built; just fix the problems with existing ones. 500 grand would fix every pothole/crack in town easily and then some.

$500 000 a year in new taxes and $2-3 million infusion in fees would really have helped with the roads. If only we had a developer who was interested in investing in our community... we should keep our eyes peeled for just such an investment.

Yeah, we could fix some potholes and that money would be burned up without making a significant dent in the problem and with minimal long term benefit for the community. If you really think that money could fix every road in your town you are delusional.

[Chimera]

Property taxes in Summerland are being increased by 2.75% this year and utility rates are going up also. It feels like my wallet is getting lighter and lighter, but hey, we will have a skatepark that 99% of residents will not even use.

[spooker]

Nobody said that they wanted NEW roads built; just fix the problems with existing ones. 500 grand would fix every pothole/crack in town easily and then some.

Please reread my post, I used numbers from new construction but showed an adjustment as a percentage ... and remember that we get what we pay for, slapping a little asphalt into a pothole might be "cheap" but it will last about as long as using a full suspension bike from Walmart on the runs at Silverstar would (which might be a day or two) ...

[Anonymous123]

Property taxes in Summerland are being increased by 2.75% this year and utility rates are going up also. It feels like my wallet is getting lighter and lighter, but hey, we will have a skatepark that 99% of residents will not even use.

I'm surprised that taxes weren't increased by 5%, after all that's what the proposed Lark project would have added to the coffers.

[abraham]

It absolutely blows my mind how many people are complaining about this skate park! It really doesn’t surprise me thou! I grew up in Summerland and there has never been anything for kids to do(literally) nothing except for a small out dated rec centre with a diving board and a pool not much bigger then my pool at home! Big frigging deal they wanna spend 500k on something to keep kids busy rather then doing drugs or getting into trouble! I think they should make the playground at memorial park bigger at the same time also! And any of you complainers who are against something positive for our youths in this community should be ashamed of your selves! Building a skate park isn’t gonna effect anything or anybody in a negative way! The roads will always be crappy around here with or without this skate park, and it’s not gonna drain anyone’s wallets either!

[twobits]

It absolutely blows my mind how many people are complaining about this skate park! It really doesn’t surprise me thou! I grew up in Summerland and there has never been anything for kids to do(literally) nothing except for a small out dated rec centre with a diving board and a pool not much bigger then my pool at home! Big frigging deal they wanna spend 500k on something to keep kids busy rather then doing drugs or getting into trouble! I think they should make the playground at memorial park bigger at the same time also! And any of you complainers who are against something positive for our youths in this community should be ashamed of your selves! Building a skate park isn’t gonna effect anything or anybody in a negative way! The roads will always be crappy around here with or without this skate park, and it’s not gonna drain anyone’s wallets either!

Can you provide some numbers of expected users of this 600k investment? Hundred.....maybe. Do the math on the per capital expense and then tell us there would not have been a better use of funds for youth engagement that would be more inclusive than skateboarders.