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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, May 28, 2010 · 10 Park could go to Palermo Continued from page 7 Come to our Open Houses Florals by Design with Sue Warden at Churchill Place Churchill Place Retirement Residence 345 Church St, Oakville 905-338-3311 Art in the Garden with Dorothy Wilde at The Kensington The Kensington Retirement Residence 25 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville 905-844-4000 iour taking place in West Oak Trails Park would stop if the skateboard facility was removed. Another skateboard park user said the bad behaviour has nothing to do with skateboarders and are simply people looking for a place to drink. Still others advised the Town to keep targeting the people who were actually causing the problem stating the message would get across when people started getting slapped with tickets. Josh Ranells, 25, of Hustler Snowboards & Skateboards, said closing a place down because of the actions of a few individuals makes little sense. "If there is a problem with parents getting into fights at a hockey rink are you going to close the hockey rink," he asked. "I find that maybe there is a bit of a misunderstanding about the needs of the youth of Oakville and a lack of facilities for us to go to. If you take the skateboard parks away we'll end up back at the library, we'll end up back in downtown Oakville, we'll end up causing more damage to more things." For nearby residents, however, the existing situation in the park is unacceptable. Craig and Stephanie Ferguson, who said they fought against the introduction of the skateboard park in the first place, called on the committee to move it, Wednesday, stating the greatest problem is the constant wood striking metal noise skateboarders make when they use the park. "It's not just at night. The Councillor Allan Elgar noise a skateboard park creates, and this is not against skateboarding or skateboarders, is very different from the noise a baseball diamond creates or a soccer field creates. It's a very harsh noise, it's a very loud noise, it's a very violent noise and you can hear it inside the homes at times," said Craig. "Since we started getting nice weather we've been opening our windows and we can sit at our kitchen table and we can hear the skateboard park. It's not like a soccer game where the game starts, the game ends and everyone goes home. It's always going, always going and there is seemingly a very big challenge in stopping it, we've heard tonight." Craig went on to say the problem seems to be proximity as the skateboard park is only 100 metres away from the nearest homes with other skateboard parks, like the recentlybuilt Glenashton Skateboard Park, at least 200 metres from the nearest home. Stephanie said her children cannot sleep peacefully at night with the windows open because of the noise coming from the skateboard park. Other residents expressed concern for the youths using the skateboard park in the middle of the night stating that if they were to hurt themselves there might be no one around to help them. With all comments heard from more than 10 people during the meeting councillors concluded more information was needed before a decision could be made. Ward 4 Councillor Allan Elgar spoke several times about possibly moving the skateboard facility to Palermo Park, which is located away from residences near the Bronte Road and Dundas Street intersection. While the numbers need to be confirmed Mark estimated it would cost $50,000 to build a new concrete pad for the skateboard park at Palermo and another $10,000 to move and install the equipment from West Oak Trails Park. The estimated time needed to complete this project was estimated to be two to three months. Mark said it would be necessary to determine where in the budget to find the money. Staff was also asked to look into the possibility of adding a sound barrier and what if any options Halton police are considering for dealing with the problem in the park. Those, both for and against the skateboard park, have each conducted petitions calling for the park's removal receiving 118 signatures while a petition calling for the skateboard park to stay where it is receivied 220, according to Heather Conway, the person who circulated it. 3302 Paintings on the Patio with Joyce Kellock at Trafalgar Lodge Trafalgar Lodge Retirement Residence 299 Randall St, Oakville 905-842-8408 WOOD N' FLOOR We Install All Kinds of Floors "Refinish Your Wood Floor Like New" Serving Oakville residents for over 20 years. reveraliving.com Revera: Canadian owned since 1961 with over 200 locations. KAZ (905) 338-1881 www.woodnfloor.ca W