AFTER a decade of lobbying council, a petition and community fundraisers, Daylesford skate park is finally set to be upgraded.
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Resident Peter O'Mara called the first community meeting about a skate park for the town in the 1990s.
The current skate park was unveiled in 1996 and though its surrounds have been upgraded in decades since, the skate park itself has not.
As the years ticked by, generations of passionate young skaters grew up and moved on from the campaign they and their parents had resolutely rallied for to upgrade the outdated skate park, with some now taking their own children to the park.
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A few years ago teenagers Liam O'Conal, Luke Warden-Homel, Zane Petkovic, and Manny Nichols, supported by Brendan O'Conal and Janette Homel, started a fundraising campaign with a barbecue at a community fair.
Community donations towards the cause poured in and the Friends of the Daylesford Community Park raised almost $14,000 and lobbied Hepburn Shire Council with designs drawn up by parent Paul Lemphers with input from children and teenagers.
Mr O'Mara said the original skate park had been built on a small budget and since its construction skate park designs had moved on.
"The original park was designed for a more advanced level but what the community was calling for was a skate park for both junior and advanced skaters," he said.
The concept design for the re-development of the skate park precinct was finalised in May 2018.
The plans - drawn up by Convic,who specialises in creating youth spaces around the globe - includes a modern skate park precinct and half basketball court in keeping with the surrounding modern playground and community garden facilities.
The refurbishment of the skate park will commence in the next couple of weeks and will take approximately six to eight weeks to complete.
"We need a physical activation of young people and need recreation and physical activity outside of traditional football and netball clubs. Skate parks cater to such a wide range of abilities and ages and both males and females," Mr O'Mara said.
"It is also a low cost activity. Kids self-regulate at skate parks and that is empowering to young people.
"A wonderful thing that happens at skate parks is that the younger kids are helped by the older kids."
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Hepburn Shire Council mayor Don Henderson said the Friends of the Daylesford Community Park were instrumental in rallying support for the project and worked closely with the council to attract the $240,000 grant from the state government to ensure the project could go ahead.
The builders will retain, recycle and reuse as much of the existing infrastructure as possible, including the existing slab.
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