Pastor and motivational speaker Dave Jonsson knows all about crusades.
But his latest campaign for change isn’t religious, social or political. He just wants skateboarders in the Tri-Cities to be able to stay dry when it’s raining.
And when almost half the year’s days in the southwestern corner of British Columbia can be damp, that’s not exactly a small ask.
Jonsson, a pro skateboarder himself, recently took his Skate Undercover pitch to Port Moody council.
Unlike previous admonitions to councils in Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam that were a little cool to his ideas to build a sheltered skateboard park underneath the Pitt River Bridge or in the shadow of the SkyTrain guideway, citing concerns about safety, accessibility and layers of bureaucracy, he’s hoping his play to PoMo might have some teeth.
“This is a recreation void,” Jonsson said, adding the closest covered skateboard parks are currently in Tsawwassen and beneath the Georgia Street viaduct in Vancouver.
Jonsson said the area below the Moody Street overpass that is now occupied by the trials cycling facility would be the perfect location to build a new skate park that could operate in all kinds of weather.
It’s well-located along Murray Street and close to transit, it’s large enough to allow construction of a sizeable facility that could cater to boarders of all ages and abilities, and the bridge above isn’t too high that rain would just blow in nor too low to create a gloomy, uninviting environ.
But it is already occupied by the ramps, tabletops, boxes and giant tires where trials cyclists have been able to practice balancing their bikes since 2009.
Jonsson said the park is rarely used for its intended purpose, though.
Trials biking is a very niche sport, he said, with few practitioners in the area. As a result, the trials facility has become more of a giant jungle gym for kids and a sheltered waystation for adults walking along Brewers Row.
“This is a prime location,” Jonsson said. “We should give it to the sport that needs it most.”
His intent isn’t to leave the trials riders high and dry, though.
Jonsson said the skateboard park in Rocky Point Park, next to Rocky Point Ice Cream’s manufacturing facility and bistro, is starting to show wear and tear with cracks and fissures in the concrete.
He said it’s due for a major refurbishment or rebuild sometime soon, so why not move it a little further west and across Murray Street and another location could be found for a smaller trials area?
Jonsson said he’d also have to work with Port Moody Rotary, as they were instrumental in getting the trials park built in the first place.
But, Jonsson added, it’s not hard to imagine the worn and scored wooden logs and giant tires replaced by wide, undulating slabs of concrete with obstacles, jumps and ramps at each end, as well as stairs and handrails.
“In every way, this makes sense,” Jonsson said, adding boarders currently have to retreat to the Superstore parkade in Coquitlam to keep rolling in wet weather.
Whether his idea has merit to warrant further discussion will be determined Tuesday (July 25), when Port Moody council responds to Jonsson’s delegation.
But Mayor Meghan Lahti cautioned any rework of the existing skateboard park would have to be considered in the context of a new master plan for Rocky Point Park that is currently in the works.
SOUND OFF: Do you think the trials biking area beneath the Moody Street overpass should be replaced by a skateboard facility? Where else might be an appropriate place for a skateboard park that could still be used in wet weather? Send us a Letter to the Editor. Be sure to include your full name and city of residence.
