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Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront
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Updated: Nov. 22, 2015
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Welcome to the new Skateboard Park Page. So much has happened, and continues to happen, that the old page was getting too big and cluttered. We will keep the most current information here, and continue to update the old page, now renamed “Skateboard Park Background” so that you can still follow the whole saga. Click here to visit the Background page.
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March 6, 2009
On March 3rd, the Community Working Group announced their recommended location for the Ward 6 Skateboard Park. They have recommended the 8th Street Parkette, located on the south side of Birmingham Street between 8th & 9th Streets.
Expect at least one more public meeting before the project moves forward.
Click here for Etobicoke Guardian coverage of the March 3 meeting.
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January 13, 2009
Follow the Progress of the Working Group On-Line
Meeting notes from the Community Working Group are now being posted on the Lura Consulting website. The third meeting is being held this week, but so far, only the first meeting’s notes are posted.
Click here to visit Lura’s Ward 6 Skateboard Park page.
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November 4, 2008
The process of planning a skateboard park in Ward 6 is finally restarting. Lura Consulting has been hired to facilitate the process. A 12 member community Working Group is being formed to advise the City on site selection criteria, assess locations against these criteria, and to identify the most appropriate location for the skateboard park.
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May 28, 2007
Funding Deadline Looms for Skateboard Park
During a meeting last week, one City official made it clear that a decision would be made very soon about whether or not to keep the skateboard park in the budget beyond 2007. Despite our concern about the site originally chosen, CCFEW and several other community groups are still interested in seeing the project go forward in an appropriate location.
To that end, CCFEW, along with New Toronto Good Neighbours, the Lakeshore Planning Council, Friends of Sam Smith, and Sumo Skateshop sent this letter to Brenda Lribecz:
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April 26th, 2007
Here We Go Again!?
The idea of putting a skateboard facility in Sam Smith Park appears to be dormant, if not completely dead, for now but the accompanying ice skating track is not a dead issue. It was revived at poorly publicized, but well attended public meeting on April 19th. We learned unofficially (but accurately) the date time and location weeks in advance, but the first official notice appeared via e-mail on April 16th.
A crowd of about 75 people packed the Power House to voice their opposition to the plan, the process, and the type of project chosen. There was much more discussion of how better to spend the recreation dollars than there was about the plan itself. There was also concern expressed that there has been no follow through on the first recommendation from Councillor deBaeremaeker's report from last year: “fulfill the former City of Etobicoke’s original 1996 promise to create a citizens’ advisory group to help protect and restore Colonel Sam Smith Park to its full ecological potential”.
We thought this was the most important recommendation to come out of the whole skateboard park debacle. It is this kind of advisory group that can build consensus and head off future conflicts that waste everyone's time, effort, and money.
The meeting was attended by Councillor Grimes and Kevin Bowser, the new Parks Director for the area. Mr Bowser heard for the first time at the meeting that the Lakeshore wants a community centre before money is spent on anything else.
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September 26th
Sam Smith skateboard park plans officially dead
- Etobicoke Guardian
Councillor Mark Grimes told the Guardian last night that he has accepted Councillor De Baeremaeker’s recommendation and taken Sam Smith Park off the table as a site for a skateboard park. There are several other recommendations in the report and we will be encouraging Councillor Grimes to follow through on them as well.
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Monday, September 25th
Councillor De Baeremaker’s Report Released
Question #1 - Should the skateboard park be built in the proposed location within Colonel Sam Smith Park (adjacent to the “Power House”)?
My Answer - No, my recommendation to Councillor Grimes is that the skateboard park should not be located at the proposed location within Colonel Sam Smith Park because of ecological, historical and recreational reasons.
Click here to read the full report
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