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June 30, 2020 - 5:15 PM
An online petition has been started to lobby for a skatepark in Kelowna’s Lower Mission so kids won’t have to bus to other areas of town to test their tricks.
Evan Strang, an Okanagan Mission Secondary student, started the petition on June 26 and it has almost reached its goal of 2,500 signatures.
“The kids in the Lower Mission, Ponds area, Kettle Valley, and Crawford have to travel by bus, or vehicle to reach the skate parks in Kelowna. So most will result in skating the streets, getting kicked out and hassled by the community and security is an inconvenience for both the skater and the workers,” Strang wrote in the petition.
“Putting a skate park in the lower mission will give both kids and adults a safe space to pursue their hobbies and passions. Skateboarding has always been an escape from issues and misbehaviour. Kids should be out skating then out causing mischief etc, having a place for more people to skateboard at will greatly increase the number of people encouraged to skate and also bring the current skaters out of the streets.”
READ MORE: Skateboards to be allowed on Kelowna streets, but not sidewalks
Currently, the city has outdoor skate parks at City Park and Rutland’s Ben Lee Park. Airhouse Kelowna also has an indoor skatepark.
“One of our teachers told us to start something as we were skateboarding at the school,” Stang said. He’s been skateboarding for the last two years and would love a place in the Lower Mission that he could use. Typically, he and his friends will use the park on the Westside if they're able to catch a ride. It's that, or whatever else they can find.
He’s hoping to get as many signatures as possible with the online petition.
“It’d be nice to have somewhere to go so we don’t get kicked out,” he said.
Parks and building planning manager Robert Parlane said a skatepark at Mission Recreational Park has been identified in the city’s master plan and Parlane would like to meet with Strang to make recommendations to council on a skatepark in the future.
The development of parks in the city’s Development Cost Charges program, so it’s a question of when the skatepark can be proposed to council for approval, Parlane said.
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