More than a hundred people attended public consultations hosted by the City of Fredericton this week regarding the location of the city’s proposed all-wheel sports plaza.
Skateboard Fredericton Inc. spokesperson Rodney Mann told Global News he was extremely pleased with the turnout and said the community sent a clear message to city officials that the all-wheel sports plaza should be built in downtown Fredericton.
“We were spilling out of the room,” Mann said. “There was more than a hundred people there, many councillors, the mayor, the turnout was unexpected, but also very expected.”
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Mann said user groups originally wanted the park built near the Small Craft Aquatic Centre along the Saint John River, but said issues with underground pipes put a damper on the proposed design, leading the city to look at another site on the north side of the city, close to Willie O’Ree Place.
“Having been broadsided by the news in the first place that we were moving locations, we were really concerned that this consultation wouldn’t accurately reflect what the community needs, but it’s pretty hard not to hear us now, I mean there were several councillors there engaged in conversation with the user groups and it was more than just skateboarders represented, there were all kinds of users there,” Mann said.
City of Fredericton Coun. Kevin Darrah was one of many city representatives in attendance.
“There was an overwhelming response,” Darrah said. “When I say, ‘overwhelming,’ I mean 99.9 per cent of people appear to say that downtown is what they wanted.”
Mann said the need for a new all-wheel sports park was identified in 2008. He said the popularity of wheel sports, such as skateboarding, have grown significantly.
“We were told by one councillor that they had received hundreds of emails, so we know for a fact, we were on their radar before last night, and then 100 people, 100-plus people showing up last night really proves a point,” Mann said.
Mann said while the original site might not work near the Small Craft Aquatic Centre, he said there may be other options downtown that haven’t been considered.
“If it’s not at the Small Craft Aquatic Centre, then we need to look at other locations and maybe that means budging on the size that the city had been aiming for, 25,000 square feet,” Mann said.
“And maybe it means looking at locations that were deemed unacceptable years ago that may actually be an option now.”
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Coun. Darrah said the public feedback will be taken into consideration. He said surveys were handed out at the consultations and city staff will compile that data and present it to council on March 5.
“Based on what council asked for, which was for the public consultation, and we wanted to hear what they had to say — they want it downtown, there’s no reason for us not to listen to the user,” Darrah said.
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