Port Coquitlam bike skills park left out of spending plan

An aging bike skills park in Port Coquitlam is in need of an update and could be a destination for young Tri-City riders.

It could also be replaced with another amenity that people living in the city’s northeast neighborhood near the Coquitlam River can use.

Once popular with youth of all ages, Shaughnessy Bike Park was considered a great amenity when it was built some 15 years ago.

Now it’s a sad place, with graffiti covering some of the devices.

When it was built, volunteers helped the contractors bring in soil and logs to create a multi-level skills park of wooden bridges and hills with entry obstacles and technical features for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

But in recent years the park has deteriorated and was earmarked for a $40,000 upgrade in the city’s 2024-2025 capital plan, with design in 2024 and construction in 2025.

However, councilors have decided to step back and review the idea before committing to funding.

Should the bike park be used for other purposes?

At Tuesday’s (13 December) meeting, the council withdrew the project from its multi-year spending plan to conduct further studies to determine whether the park should be expanded, replaced with another amenity, or upgraded to make it a ” to make target park. “

Some council members suggested the land could be put to better use.

“I’m not sure how many people use this park,” Coun said. Dean Washington, who noted that it is in a prime location, close to where the city is building more housing.

“Is this the best and highest use for this piece of land? I’d like to know if that’s the case,” Washington said.

The Council has been told that Bike Skills Parks are popular with youngsters, especially when they are challenging and interesting enough to be a “destination park”.

count. Darrell Penner also questioned the park’s use as a bike skills park, saying he hadn’t heard of any group advocating its use.

However, Count. Steve Darling noted that the park is used by children and young people of all ages and needs repairs.

“Right now there are kids using it, I’ve seen them using it,” he said, “it’s even used by little kids, it needs to be fixed, it needs to be fixed.”

Following the cancellation of the bike park upgrade, the council subsequently approved a multi-year plan with an investment of $48.6 million for numerous infrastructure and park upgrade projects.

Mayor Brad West said there is plenty of time within the funding window to study the bike parking plan.

Meanwhile, the plan kicks off numerous projects for the next year, with money for the upgrades coming from reserves, grants, accumulated surplus, and developer contributions.

Here’s what Port Coquitlam’s capital plan says

In 2023, the city will modernize Leigh Square and extend the Donald Pathway, which is slated to begin in late March. The tendering process will be completed at the beginning of the new year.

Plans include upgrading Gates Park to create a $11.4 million sports center after the province announced a $6.7 million investment in the project on April 22.

A total of $25.8 million in capital increases have been approved for 2023, including:

• $12.2 million for upgrades to Gates Park and other parks, athletic fields, and athletic fields
• $7.2 million for neighborhood redevelopment projects, including paving, utility lines, sidewalks, and streetlight upgrades
• $722,000 for a Terry Fox sculpture and interactive exhibit at the Port Coquitlam Community Center
• $710,000 for Cedar Creek culvert upgrades
• $710,000 for sidewalks and pedestrian protection
• $400,000 for pavement
• $185,000 for Port Coquitlam Cemetery Expansion
• $160,000 for a washroom at Blakeburn Lagoons Park
• $120,000 for traffic calming

Other expenses for 2023 include more hydrobox packaging, invasive species management and a facility health assessment for Hyde Creek Recreation Centre.

A total of $22.7 million in capital improvements are planned in 2024, including:

• $10.4 million for neighborhood redevelopment projects, including upgrades to sidewalks, water, sewage, drainage and street lighting
• $3 million for major utility improvements, including replacing the Dominion Sanitary pumping station and upgrading the Cedar Drive Drainage pumping station to provide better flood and fish protection
• $2.3 million for fleet replacement
• $435,000 for sidewalk and pedestrian safety
• $425,000 for network server storage and protection
• $400,000 for pavement
• $325,000 to complete the digital development application system
• $320,000 for playground upgrades
• $100,000 for traffic calming