5 September, 2024

Skatepark project progresses to consultation

Preferred location… Consulation is beginning over a proposed 1000-square-metre skatepark at Woodall Park. This would be away from existing tennis courts (out of shot further west down Wairoa Rd) and close to the pumptrack which is under trees.

Consultation on a controversial new skatepark planned for Woodall Park will start this month.
The findings will influence the facility’s design and ways of mitigating residents’ concerns about issues such as noise.
Auckland Council will host an open day and run online surveys about the plans, project manager Xavier Choi told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board last month.
Woodall Park is the preferred site of 19 investigated across the Devonport peninsula, due to its proximity to other sporting facilities, accessibility, size, and visibility.
The proposed 1000-square-metre skatepark would be at the southwest edge of the park, next to the pedestrian path and BMX pump track.
The local board has a budget of $946,000 for the project.
The facility’s size could change after consultation, along with its location within Woodall Park, a council staff member told the board. Draft concept designs for the park are expected to be completed early next year, when they will be shown to the board, along with collated feedback.
Construction is planned for September to December next year.
The new park is intended as a replacement for the Ngataringa Skatepark, which will become unusable in the future, due to the land subsiding.
However, drainage works done in 2022 at a cost of $250,000 are expected to allow the Ngataringa facility to remain useable for several more years.
Like Ngataringa, Woodall Park is a closed landfill, but initial testing indicates the ground can support a new facility.
Council staff have recommended more detailed contamination and bearing-capacity investigations.
The local board was told a Woodall Park facility would likely be insurable.
Board member George Wood said the Pasifika groups who used the reserve during the summer should be informed about the project.
Chair Toni van Tonder agreed, asking council to reach out to local boards across the city so groups that visited could be informed about the consultation.
Wood said the skatepark could eat into the space groups have for playing kilikiti. Both Wood and member Gavin Busch questioned why a new skatepark was necessary when the Ngataringa facility was still useable.
Busch suggested building a small facility for younger skaters at Woodall Park would be a cheaper option.
Wood was the only board member to oppose the project progressing.
He said a skatepark would encroach on green space and that building on an old landfill would be a problem.

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Views split on existing and planned skate facilities

The use of the Woodall Park courts as a temporary skate facility has upset neighbours who have witnessed antisocial behaviour and vandalism.
Cameron Smythe, who lives near the park, told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board skaters had left broken glass at the courts.
Skaters and the ramps they had installed had taken over the facility and their “intimidating behaviour” meant his daughters couldn’t use the courts to practise netball, he said.
Smythe, a civil engineer, also raised concerns about the viability of building a skate facility at Woodall Park, as the proposed location would be on top of a sewer and water main.
“Both of those networks won’t survive additional loading associated with the concrete park.”
He said the Ngataringa facility is well used and in good condition, and that the community is in more need of other facilities, such as a swimming pool.
Dave Casey of the Devonport Skatepark Advisory Group spoke in support of a new skatepark in the proposed area, saying it would create less noise than skating at the courts, as it was further away from homes. The smooth concrete surface would also be quieter than the plywood ramps in use at the courts.
The highly visible proposed location would reduce the likelihood of antisocial behaviour, he said.
The new location would also encourage parents to bring their children, as it was closer to amenities like toilets and being out in the open was safer.
Casey told the board skate equipment and surfaces at the courts were vandalised in May.
Damage included the removal of metal plates from the ramps, making them unusable, and cement and pebbles being spread nearby.
The message “Hey f*** head, stay off our court!” was written on one of the obstacles.
Local board chair Toni van Tonder recommended that council remove the ramps from the courts now there was a time-frame to deliver a separate new permanent skate facility.
At a later workshop, van Tonder said she would like to see pickleball lines and a netball goal circle painted on the courts, after the ramps were removed. This repeats a request made last year to widen use.