Skate park delayed over budget

Artists rendering of the Peachland Skate Park. (Newline Skateparks)

by Dave Preston

Construction of the Peachland Skate Park has been delayed by a week because of budget considerations.

Newline Skateparks was hired by the District of Peachland to design and build a skateboard park in Lambly Park. Peachland council previously set aside $225,000 for the project.

A crew from Newline was in Peachland the week before Thanksgiving, marking out the general layout of the design on the grass to the south of the existing tennis courts. All signs pointed to a construction crew beginning work the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving long weekend, but that didn’t happen.

“We were over budget,” said Cheryl Wiebe, the district’s director of community services. Wiebe said final numbers that came in from Newline showed the project was quite a bit over budget and changes had to be made.

On Friday morning, Newline and the district came to an agreement and Wiebe said the project is back on track.

Some minor changes have been made to the design, including the elimination of one feature called a wedge to wedge.

“At the design workshop, most of the design committee weren’t too thrilled about it (the wedge to wedge feature),” said Wiebe.

Overall Wiebe said most people won’t be able to tell a difference between what was presented to the public in September and what will actually be built.

The Newline construction crew is expected to roll into town this weekend and Wiebe said she believes digging in Lambly Park should commence on Monday.