A heated meeting was held at the Council meeting room on Monday night to discuss the Rec Ground redevelopment. Around 45 people attended the meeting including many young teenagers keen to participate in the process.
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Following the success of grant allocations towards Stage 1 works for the Braidwood Recreation Grounds Refurbishment project, arrangements are progressing to complete the identified works over the next 12 months in order to meet the milestones of the funding approvals.
The two components are the new multipurpose building and a new skatepark, with available funding totalling $1,050,000.
The skatepark was originally intended to be in the vicinity of the bike track in the far corner of the Rec Grounds, however after concerns about that isolated location were raised the council moved the location to the area of the cricket nets on Keder Street.
With the Mayor, two councillors and council staff in attendance, Director of Infrastructure planning Bill Ellison explained the process required for the upgrade, and the history of the funding grants from the Braidwood Community Bank and the NSW Government, including the co-location in the new pavilion of the Braidwood Life Centre.
Skating enthusiast Karuna Bajracharya gave a persuasive presentation on Skate park design noting advice from builders on the key importance of location, showing examples from around Australia. Karuna was adamant that the Rec Ground location was wrong, and that it should be built on the lower part of Ryrie Park below the pool, where it was highly visible and would attract passing visitors.
The Mayor Pete Harrison called the meeting to order saying that the money had been allocated to the Rec Ground upgrade only, and could not be transferred to another site. Mary Mathais from the Community Bank concurred that the skate park money ($200,000 of the $350,000) was tied to the rest of the grant at the Rec Ground and it was this initiative of the Community Bank that had enabled the further funding from State Government to be granted.
After vigorous discussion and group of young skaters, having tested many parks across the region, presented their plans for skate park designs to the engineers.
Tenders for the pavilion building close shortly and tenders will need to be sought for any skate park design and construction.
Council had proposed that a Skatepark Working Group be formed to assist with taking the project forward, however with little consensus it was agreed that a group would meet at the Rec Ground on Tuesday to further discuss the issue.