Paul Huting Waterloo Leisure Services Director will share updates from Waterloo Leisure Services as well as present details about two projects in their pipeline: pickleball courts and the Riverside Skate Park. Both projects are near Riverfront Stadium and are candidates for our club to support financially this year.
Waterloo's skate park was first opened in 2002, but the floods of 2008 and 2016 damaged the ramps and the park has been technically closed for almost 3 years. FEMA originally planned to help but major hurricanes in 2017 redirected funding.
Waterloo Leisure Services has hired a California company, Spohn Ranch, to develop plans for a new all-concrete skate park. On January 30th, a design workshop brought skaters and city officials together to discuss and vote on specific features for the new park. The results and photos of that workshop can be seen on the group's Facebook page.
Somewhat related to the skate park project - the existing concrete slab under the damaged ramps is still in good condition and can be transformed into pickleball courts. If you've heard of pickleball but aren't familiar with how to play, it's basically a combination of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. A pickleball court is smaller than a tennis court, and Leisure Services Recreation Manager Mark Gallagher says three pickleball courts could easily fit on the current skate park concrete pad.