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West Oak Trails skateboard park partially dismantled on August 4, 2010.

On July 6, 2010, Town of Oakville staff informed the Town Council that the plan to move the West Oaks Trails Skateboard Park to Palermo Park would not occur because of safety concerns for pedestrians having to cross Dundas Street.

UPDATE: Read via twitter from Councillor Jeff Knoll here & Mayor Rob Burton here that the skateboard park will be temporarily relocated to Glen Abbey.

UPDATE 2: The Town of Oakville issued a press release announcing that the Westoak Trails Skateboard Park has been temporarily relocated

Council heard from both sides on the issue

During it’s consultative process on the issue, Town staff and Council heard from many delegations about noise complaints, youth misconduct and the lack of services for youth in Ward 4.

“There are those who want the skateboard park and those who want it removed,” said Chris Mark, Director of Parks and Open Space. “The facility is widely used during the day, usually without incident. However, there have been issues with inappropriate youth activity during evening and night time periods.”

Dismantling the skateboard park

Oakville.com

Halton Police were called to West Oak Trails Park on August 4, 2010 due to a commotion while the skateboard park was being dismantled.

On August 4, 2010, the process began of dismantling the skateboard park at West Oak Trails Park – but not without incident.

A crowd of local residents and children were enjoying the nearby playground and watching the events unfold.

During the process of removing parts of the park, two youths confronted and interfered with the dismantling process. The two young men were clearly not happy that the skateboard park was being removed.

Halton Police were called, the two young men were placed in the back of cruisers and eventually ticketed for their interference.

New location for the skateboard park

Although the skateboard park is being removed from West Oak Trails Park, Mayor Rob Burton advised that the Town is actively looking for a new location to host the park that meets the needs and satisfies the concerns of all stakeholders.

The police chief advised me skate parks should be well lit and visible from the road. Council doesn’t pick sites for features in parks, but Council supported moving the installation once it was discovered that the site of the installation didn’t meet the police advice. We are still expanding the number of things for kids to do, we’re just trying to make sure we all can live with the results.

It should be noted that the skateboard park at West Oak Trails Park was not well lit, nor was it visible from the road.

In a recent report, Town staff noted that, “a similar skateboard facility was installed at Iroquois Ridge Community Centre and has had little to no inappropriate youth activity … the reasons could relate to the facility being next to a busy community centre and within close range of video surveillance cameras.”

[Editor: Read more about the West Oaks skateboard relocation here , here, & here.]

Tags: Chris Mark, mayor rob burton, skateboard parks

About the author: Richard Douglas

Richard contributes articles, photos and video about news and events happening in the Town of Oakville, Ontario.