Nelson skatepark back in the race for funding dollars with Aviva online voting contest
By Nelson Daily Editor
Success is just a mouse click away.
The Kootenay Lake Outdoor Skatepark Society is back in the running again this year as online voting begins this week in the Aviva Community Fund’s million-dollar question contest.
And KLOSPS, which finished in the top 10 in voting last year with their Nelson skatepark project, is now better situated for success with a designated site (on Nelson and District Community Complex land) and preliminary plans, said Society member Tim McDaniel.
Nelsonites can help the society gain the funding for the project by voting for its merits online at the link below. The most votes win the contest.
The link to begin voting for the Nelson skatepark is http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/users/registration/profile
Who is KLOPSPS and what are they trying to do?
KLOSPS is run by the Nelson youth for the Nelson youth.
The society has identified an unfulfilled need, that is the need for a facility that allows local youth to legally practice and participate in the individual sports they have passionately dedicated so much of their time and lives to.
The need for a skatepark in Nelson is straightforward: Skateboarding has been a very popular and positive part of the town’s culture and for the last 20 or so years, there have been no appropriate legal public places to skateboard.
However, local skateboarders have had no choice but to skate on sidewalks and other locations, which is against city bylaws.
Compare that situation with 16 million enthusiasts nationwide, where skateboarding is more popular than baseball for kids ages 6-17 (National Sporting Goods Association, 2000).
Nelson offers baseball fields, soccer pitches, hockey rinks, gymnasiums and curling rinks but no outdoor public skatepark. The skatepark will be free and open to skateboarders, inline skaters and bikers and will act as a needed anchor for youth activities and energy in Nelson.
About the Aviva Community Fund
Aviva Canada is offering $1 million to lead, empower and support community initiatives across the country through the Community Fund.
Whether it’s a project that will help get at-risk youth off the street and back into schools or other ways to extend a helping hand to those in need, the Aviva Community Fund enables all Canadians to not only submit a cause but also become actively involved in making change happen.
First launching in October 2009, the inaugural Aviva Community Fund asked Canadians to submit their ideas and vote for causes on the competition’s online portal – AvivaCommunityFund.org.
Where is the skateboard park project?
The project has been approved by the Regional District of Central Kootenay board of directors.
Two years ago Nelson City council took the report of its appointed skateboard park committee and made a recommendation to “further explore the feasibility and associated costs of locating the outdoor skatepark adjacent to the entranceway of the” Nelson and District Community Centre, behind the Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce building.
The skateboard park committee, the NDCC, as well the Recreation Commission have nearly reconfigured a layout of the NDCC’s parking lot to allow for a 10,000-square-foot “destination” venue.
Currently, the grassy site at the NDCC would allow for only a 7,500-sq.-ft. park but a 10,000-sq.-ft. one would be desirable. A bigger park would herald the loss of some parking.
See also
Votes needed for outdoor skateboard project
- http://thenelsondaily.com/news/general/votes-needed-outdoor-skateboard-project-8359
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