The Smithers Skate Park Society is gearing up for the third phase of its skate park expansion project.
Members of the society gave an update to town council on Jan. 28.
Phase two was completed last summer with an eight-foot bowl and transition areas between the phase one and phase two areas.
“So we wanted to tell council that the construction company Radius will be returning in the spring of 2025 to fix four areas with minor concrete cracking,” explained society project manager Sarah Fitzmaurice.
“These are pretty minor; it's not something that most users would notice, but we wanted to make sure that these areas were fixed to maintain the park integrity as long as possible. Phase Two costs were $372,000. Actual costs were $394,660, we were over budget by $22,660, which, we weren't unhappy with that. So we think we did pretty with our budget versus actuals.”
The society is planning on finishing the project this year with the third phase which includes lighting, a shaded structure, a sign, a water filling station and landscaping.
The estimated cost for this phase is $585,000, which is much higher than estimated in the beginning.
“We wanted to mention that we significantly underestimated the lighting we presented to council in 2022,” Fitzmaurice said. “We we had some quotes and from a landscape architect who helped us do the research, and we just didn't have enough detail at the time and research at the time to know how expensive the lighting of the park was going to be.”
She mentioned they have chosen lighting that will help with public safety but won’t blind the neighbours. The society has also been mindful to pick lighting that future projects in the park can piggyback on.
The society also mentioned a group of Olympic-level athletes are coming to Smithers in June.
“We will be making more detailed announcements soon, but part of the trip will be bringing them for a celebration barbecue, which we will invite our top contributors and our project partners to, and then the following day will be an event at the skate park.
"So, these are a group of athletes who have agreed to help us bring exposure to recreation infrastructure in rural communities and help us for our phase four expansion plan in 2026, more details on that soon,” Fitzmaurice teased.