SUNDRE – A group of residents who live adjacent to the site of a possible future pump track project pitched by the Sundre Bike n’ Ski Club attended an open house to express concerns about the proposed location.
Yet despite concerns expressed about the loss of green space, increased petty crime and additional noise from users at the suggested site at Lions Park immediately south of the Bearberry Creek pedestrian bridge, there seemed to largely be consensus among about 10 people that the project itself has potential and would offer another appealing recreational amenity for the community.
Several members of the club, including Katie Yalte, Katie Jo Munro, Josh Rozenhart and Bryan McBain, responded to concerns and answered questions on March 8 during an informal drop-in session at the Sundre Municipal Library.
Not unlike a skate park, a pump track features either a dirt or hard-surface circuit with rollers and banked turns. Originally developed for mountain as well as BMX bikes, the concrete or asphalt constructions paved the way for other users such as skateboarders, rollerskaters and bladers, as well as scooters.
No one present expressed outright opposition to the project in principle, but they all implored the club’s members to consider an alternative location.
“This is a fantastic idea,” said Lori Debaar, a mother and grandmother whose deck overlooks the site of the proposed pump track.
“Just not the location; there’s got to be somewhere else,” she said, adding the volume of noise coming from the skate park on the creek’s north side can at times already be excessive.
Rozenhart said the proposed location was their third or fourth option and that through the process of elimination, the club – in coordination with the municipality – eventually set its sights on Lions Park.
Other locations that had been considered include the lot for sale immediately on the east side of Centre Street near the hospital between 8th and 9th avenues, the north side of the creek immediately west of the existing skate park on town-owned land that the municipality has other plans for, as well as the future four-season campground and passive outdoor recreational area the municipality plans to develop on the east side of town.
In the end, however, the spotlight fell on Lions Park since the land is close to the schools, the skate park, the Aquaplex, and the downtown core as well as located on town-owned property that would not require the purchase of a parcel or a third-party agreement with another entity.
Rozenhart was also asked if he would support such a project if it were proposed right next to his home.
“Absolutely,” he replied without hesitation, adding he sets up a couple of small ramps for his children every summer on their cul-de-sac in the northeast subdivision.
Concerns about the cost of the project becoming prohibitive were also raised, to which the club’s members said they would fundraise the full amount of the expense through donations and grants. Depending on the scope of the work, the project is expected to run up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But as the proposed project is still in the nascent stage with a focus on consulting the community to gauge interest, Yalte said in response to a question that the club had to date not yet allocated funds, applied for any grants, or started soliciting donations.
Responding to specific questions about the pump track’s design, she said it was still too early to have progressed to the stage where a developer is brought in to draft design options.
Munro said she was hearing a lot of frustration about some of the skate park’s users, but encouraged the residents to consider that disruptive behaviour is the exception and does not represent all youth and adolescents, most of whom just want to have fun.
“I live with a lot of noise as well,” she said.
Replying to a question about the loss of green space, Munro asked in return whether the club’s suggestion to plant a sound buffer barrier of vegetation including shrubs and small trees would alleviate concerns of both noise and greenery.
Residents responded skeptically, with some adding that efforts to enhance the green space in that area by planting dozens of trees were impeded by vandals who continuously pulled most of them out despite attempts to replant, leaving only a few with the chance to eventually take root. Also brought up by the residents as an example was the brand new lights installed by the municipality last year that were nearly all destroyed before ever even being put to use.
During a follow-up phone interview on March 9, Rozenhart told the Albertan he appreciated what he described as legitimate concerns raised by the residents.
“There’s like three primary residents that are basically line-of-sight directly affected by the project,” he said. “Those are the ones that have big concerns on how much space that’s going to take up.”
However, he added the other concerns pertaining to excessive noise and rowdy behaviour are totally separate from the proposed project.
“I think one of the big, overarching themes throughout the meeting, was actually not the project itself; it’s other issues in the town that aren’t being dealt with,” he said.
From what he gathered during conversations with the residents, Rozenhart said concerns primarily seemed to stem from “a lot of petty crime that happens in and around their area” and that adding a new pump track would exacerbate the problem.
“(Petty crime) is a bigger issue than this project. I think this project is just bringing to light some of these pieces that the town hasn’t necessarily done a good job in dealing with,” he said.
“By the end (of the meeting), I think the terminology used by those residents changed a little bit in terms of them saying they’re in support of the project, but with an asterisk basically (and) with the caveat of making sure that the project is appropriate in that space,” he said.
“The asterisk there is their concern over crime. I think that’s the bigger issue for these residents that came out of this meeting.”
Looking ahead to the next steps, Rozenhart said the club intends to do some leg work integrating a design into the space and then presenting it to some of the residents so they have a better understanding of what it would actually look like, and through compromise perhaps reach a consensus on a palatable approach for all.
“They imagined it taking up the entire green space,” he said, adding that’s not the case and that the club has more work do to presenting a clearer vision.
Rozenhart also confirmed the club wants to build an asphalt pump track, which while more expensive in the short-term requires far less maintenance in the long-term than dirt tracks, and as an additional bonus is also much more accessible to a greater variety of users including people with disabilities.
“I’ve seen paraplegics utilize pump tracks with their wheelchairs and have a great time doing it,” he said.
Depending on the size and complexity of the design involved, a pump track could range in cost anywhere between $200,000 and $1 million, he said.
“Our goal would probably be in the $400,000 to $600,000 range to have a reasonably-sized track,” he said.
