Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The effort to build a skate park in Palouse may have a new location option. Organizer Aaron Flansburg was set to present signatures regarding how people feel about four proposed sites at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
Among the four was a new location put forth by Flansburg’s group: the former trailer park site next to the car wash at the east entrance of town.
The new option is offered after two locations in Hayton Greene Park had received gaining opposition over the fall.
The new half-acre spot at the former trailer park is next to a native plant walk.
Flansburg told the Gazette that this site and the earlier proposal next to the sewer plant (across from Hayton Greene Park) have garnered the most interest.
“It seems that those two are the leading choices,” he said.
For the former trailer park location, which has been converted to park space, he said it is also eligible to be used.
“As long as its used for park space, development isn’t restricted,” Flansburg said. “That was an option we were holding back on.”
He indicated that some native plants could be maintained around a skate park.
Signatures for the petition on the four locations were gathered in Palouse during Haunted Palouse as well as at the Lewiston skate park.
The vast majority of signatures came from Palouse residents, Flansburg said.
This fall, he and a group of other volunteers put on the firehouse part of Haunted Palouse to raise more money for the skate park.
“I’d like to have a direction for moving forward with the project at a specific location,” he said. “I’m hoping to get some concrete direction on this before the end of the year. And it’s getting close to the end of the year.”
Flansburg invited any comments or questions to be sent to Palouseskatepark@gmail. com.
In July, by a vote of 4-2 the Palouse City Council gave Flansburg preliminary approval for the Hayton Greene Park site next to the parking lot, between the pool walkway and playground area, with several contingencies. These included the presentation of an artist’s rendering of what the skate park would look like, proof of the group’s funding and approval by the city’s insurance carrier.
Later, growing opposition presented at city council meetings indicated that while many residents supported a skate park, they wanted it to be somewhere other than in Hayton Greene Park.
Flansburg indicated in July that 56 volunteers have been working on the effort to build a Palouse skate park and had raised $5,900 to that point.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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