BARRHEAD – Barrhead-area service clubs, businesses, residents or any other groups or individuals hoping to attach their names to the town's still-under-construction all-wheel park can now do so — for a price.
On Oct. 25, Town of Barrhead councillors unanimously approved the sponsorship package, which outlines the price structure and how names will be attached to the project.
There are five levels of sponsorships, ranging from a bronze, a $200-$500 commitment; silver for $2,000-$5,000; gold, for $6,000 to $10,000; or platinum, a $100,000-plus commitment that gives that sponsor naming rights for the park.
Although the $849,000 construction cost of the park has already been paid for through Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant funding, the package states the funds raised through sponsorship will go towards other improvements in the park, including landscaping, park benches, picnic tables and washrooms.
Coun. Dave Sawatzky said he got a sneak peek at the package during a Rotary Club meeting and was very impressed.
"Kudos to the administration for putting something like this together. It is a big city presentation. This is the type of quality product we need to send out to the community to attract sponsorship dollars," he said.
Coun. Rod Kluin said he was "sold."
"I have my cheque right here," he said. "I want to be on one of the first sponsorship plaques."
Earlier in the meeting, mayor Dave McKenzie apologized to council for releasing the sponsorship package early, saying that he and administration had jumped the gun in their excitement over the project, forgetting that the document needed council's approval before being circulated.
History of the all-wheel park
Although multiple councils had discussed the possibility of a new all-wheel park to replace the old facility next to the curling rink for several years, the general public first learned about the potential construction of an all-wheel skatepark in early June 2021, when town council announced the municipality would be partnering with the Barrhead CARES Coalition to create a survey asking residents about the features they would like to see in a park.
Two weeks later, they selected the location of the park, a municipally-owned property near the old Champion Feeds building on the east side of 50th Avenue between 55A Street and 56th Street, south of Highway 18.
In late January 2022, council selected New Line Skateparks to design and build the park and announced if things went to plan, construction would be complete sometime in August. In March, they held a public information session that included staff from Newline Skateparks and in late April, council approved the final design.
In mid-June council hosted the official ground-breaking ceremony, with councillors and parks and recreation staff reiterating their belief that construction would be complete sometime in August.
Although council had capped the construction budget at $800,000, at their July 12 meeting, following an in-camera session, councillors approved an additional $49,000 to complete the project.
After the meeting, McKenzie said the extra funds became necessary after New Line Skateparks discovered that more groundwork was needed to prepare the site.
"The property used to be CN Rail property that they used for laying tracks way back when, so the crews were finding a lot of old discarded (railway material)," he said. "As a result of what they found, they needed to dig deeper than anticipated to get a good base in."
In August, chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc said that due to heavy rains in the summer, the project's completion would be delayed by at least a month.
Last week the Barrhead Leader reached out to LeBlanc to get a revised completion estimate.
He said he asked Newline Skateparks for an updated timeline, but as of the press deadline he had not received it.
