The Northern Beaches newest skate park will be officially opened during a community event on Saturday 12 May, realising the vision of its young initiator.
The park grew out of a proposal from 10-year-old Terrey Hills student Matt Plunkett in early 2017 to build a skating facility in the area because other skate parks were too far away.
Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said the skate park was made possible thanks to savings as a result of the Council merger and will be a strong drawcard for young skaters in the area.
“The park is an excellent example of the local community working with Council to come up with a first-class solution that meets the community’s needs.
“Council has been able to fund this project directly from cost savings identified as part of the Council merger, a great example of Council re-investing in community infrastructure.
“It has been a real collaborative effort involving a local design group consisting of Matt and other local skaters as well as pro-skaters and designers.
“Northern Beaches Council also drew on its considerable experience constructing previous skate parks at Mona Vale and at St Matthews Farm Reserve”. Mayor Regan said.
Matt’s father Tony said the skate park was already popular with locals.
“I was really impressed with the speed the skate park went from proposal to ‘first ride’. The park fits the location really well,” he said.
The skate park cost $200,000 and was funded through the Merger Savings Funded Youth Spaces Program.
In 2017, Matt and his father Tony approached Council with the idea to build a park in the Terrey Hills area, pointing out the nearest skate parks were too far away in St Ives or Mona Vale.
Based on their representations as well as those from the Council’s Implementation Advisory Group and the Terrey Hills Progress Association, Council agreed to investigate options to provide the facility at Terrey Hills.
Feedback from the public was organised through a pop-up skate park event in September last year, attended by 60 young people, aged mostly between 4 and 12 years of age. This feedback played an instrumental role in the design process.
The community is invited to come along to the skate park’s public launch on Saturday 12 May from 1pm to 4 pm. There will be a barbeque, live art, skate and scooter coaching and giveaways.
As part of the launch there will also be a jam-style demo featuring inline, scooter, skate, BMX and wheelchair professionals.
Several of them began their careers skating at the original Terrey Hills half pipe.
These include:
Scott Crawford who after ‘dropping’ into the original Terrey Hills half pipe, his first ever, later went onto compete as a professional for 10 years.
Lewis Mills, a freestyle BMX champ and Terrey Hills local, who is seen as one of the hottest new talents in the sport, now riding and competing in the US.
Tim Lachlan, Australia’s only professional Wheelchair freestyle athlete, who now resides on the Gold Coast, is coming to the launch because he wanted to be very much a part of the event.