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Million-dollar Skate Park “great For Community”
The $1million-plus budget for Masterton’s skate park is not unusual, and the upgrade will be “great for the community” says the designer behind the plans.
Richard Smith, who owns the RICH Landscapes architectural design company, says the “shovel ready” funding for the park announced last month will speed up progress.
RICH Landscapes has planned and designed dozens of parks across New Zealand, Australia, and China.
The company also revealed designs for the upgrade to Upper Hutt’s Maidstone Park track this week.
Smith said the $1.3m budget, boosted by central government coffers, was not unusual.
“We’ve got other projects around the $1m mark as well. In more recent times, we’re getting larger parks built right across New Zealand, which is great.
“For Masterton it was great, as it may have taken them a while to source all that funding. So to get it in one big hit, that money was really great for the community.”
Smith said he welcomed the chance to hear from Wairarapa’s skate community at a meeting at Masterton District Council headquarters last week.
Mayor Lyn Patterson and councillor Gary Caffell were there to hear suggestions from the park’s current users.
Feedback from the group will influence some of the updates to designs.
They may include sheltered areas to guard against Wairarapa’s variable weather conditions, and alterations to ramps.
The original design also included three box jumps for BMX riders.
That may be changed to one bigger one after an idea from a local rider.
“These elements are quite big, so we just need to figure that out.
“We’re still utilising the old concrete slab, and making the most of it without ripping it all out and starting again. There’s still used value in that asset.”
A condition of the funding was that the project should be ready to go within 12 months.
Smith said he was aiming to have his design work complete by January, with Masterton District Council aiming for an autumn start to construction.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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