ARTHUR - After nearly three years of fundraising for a skatepark named after long-time Arthur Lion’s Club member and former Arthur fire chief, Brent Barnes, the Brent Barnes Memorial Skatepark work has finally been awarded to Canadian Ramp Company.
The park will be located on the grounds of the Arthur & Area Community Centre, between the baseball diamonds. It will be named after long-time Lion’s Club member and former Arthur fire chief, Brent Barnes. Barnes, who kick-started the initiative, passed away in 2018.
At the Tuesday Wellington North council virtual meeting, council awarded the work to Canadian Ramp Company (CRC) at a cost of $170,294 after taking input from the recreational, park and leisure committee and skatepark advisory committee. The cost is $9,706 under the $180,000 budget.
The Innerkip-based company proposed plans for a skate park, pump track and BMX track, but it didn’t conform to the proposal request put out by the township last year.
So, they have been working with the Arthur BMX and skateboard park Ad-Hoc advisory committee on getting the designs right.
As of Jan. 26, there was $176,645 available from the township and $40,000 from the Arthur Lions for the project, totalling $216,645.
An excerpt from a recent email from CRC, provided in a recreation, parks and leisure committee agenda, detailed the following: “We are currently at a 10 - 12 week turnaround time in order to install so, there will not be any issue having this project completed by early summer.”
