Daniel Kolanko, Centretown News
McNabb’s new skatepark is part of the park’s ongoing redevelopment efforts.The redevelopment of McNabb Park is officially underway and is slated for substantial completion by the end of November, according to Paul Landry, acting project manager. The park will not be fully complete until next year since soft landscaping matters such as turf, sod, and tree planting still need to receive a final acceptance from the city.
The renovations include the addition of an outdoor skatepark, a new climbing structure, a revised pathway system, a distinctive entrance featuring artwork commissioned by Ottawa artist Tim Desclouds, as well as some other minor changes.
Talks for redeveloping the McNabb recreational area had been brewing for almost two years, with plans being finalized in March 2013 when the plan for a skatepark was added.
The skatepark will be situated in the southwest corner of the park, resting on the land that was once home to the historic the Central Lawn Bowling Club. It will be the first ever skatepark in the Centretown area, a feat that Aaron Cayer can be thanked for.
Cayer, 30, is the head of the Ottawa Skateboard Community Association, a non-profit group of about six volunteers that communicates with the municipal government over issues surrounding skateboarding.
The OSCA, along with some other dedicated skaters, were the ones who originally pushed for the addition of the skatepark.
Cayer and other members of the OSCA have been spearheading a community-funding project called 1squarefoot, which is aimed at raising money to make the McNabb skatepark bigger and better than the initial phase under construction.
According to Cayer, the city’s $300,000 of initial funding is only enough to properly cover 7,000 sq. ft. of the 13,000-sq.-ft. designated space for the facility. Thus, through the 1squarefoot campaign, Cayer and Co. are planning to raise an extra $100,000 to help cover the remaining 6,000 sq. ft. With each $40 raised, an extra square foot will be added, according to OSCA’s website.
The skatepark will be created in two phases with the first, city-funded phase, already being constructed. The second phase, which will be funded entirely by the OSCA, will begin the moment they raise enough money.
Until then, a space in the park will remain empty and available for the expansion.
For Cayer, it is about bringing the local skaters together and giving them a great park.
“This is what the community wants,” says Cayer. “We have this one time opportunity to make this a really sweet park, so why not get some funding to expand it?”
Cayer has applied for a grant to get 1squarefoot’s funds matched by the City of Ottawa, but has to yet to get a response.
So far the campaign has raised more than $30,000, a success that OSCA’s co-director, Meaghan Isaacs, wants to take even further.
Isaacs and the OSCA have been involved with the local communities creating fundraisers for 1squarefoot such as car washes, art galleries, fancy dinners cooked by high school students.
“We’ve had a lot of strangers or friends who just want to help out,” says Isaacs. “We have people coming to us every week with ideas, we’re not even going to them.”
Donation jars for the campaign have also been set up in businesses all across the city, including many Centretown stores and restaurants such as Pressed, Ink Spot, Pour Boy, and the Daily Grind.