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Hillyard Skatepark opening delayed
Contractor, park officials say construction will take another
month to complete
The Spokesman-Review November 13, 2003
Melodie Little
Staff writer
Kids anticipating the opening of Hillyard Skatepark will have
to hold onto their boards a little while longer.
The park, which was slated to open last Saturday, won't be finished
for another month, said Chris Hildebrand, general manager of Grindline,
the company that's constructing the park.
Hildebrand said the company was wrong in thinking it could complete
the park by early November.
"We should have given ourselves more of a cushion,"
he said. "We had a couple of bad luck things, but then that
bad weather you had the last couple of weeks made it where we
couldn't put down any concrete."
Festivities for last Saturday were canceled, causing the Hillyard
Festival Association and Hillyard Skateboards, a neighborhood
skate board shop, to lose $2,000 that was spent for advertising
and to sponsor Natural Concept, a three-man professional skateboard
team.
"It was money that was given to us to pay for our booths,
and we spent that money on advertising," said Desi Bucknell,
president of Hillyard Festival Association. The neighborhood is
holding a meeting this week to discuss fund-raising to recoup
their losses and set up an account.
Both park officials and festival organizers say it's tough to
be too angry with Grindline. Their bid was for constructing an
11,000 square-foot park, and they added over 1,000 more square-feet
at no extra charge. However, the additional square footage increased
the timeline for doing the cement work and further slowed the
project.
Temperatures dipped so low that none of the tricks of the trade
for finishing cement in cold weather worked, Hildebrand explained.
The work crew tried to rent an air compressor, but the rentals
were locked up by locals who were blowing out sprinkler systems.
The company ended up purchasing one in addition to the unexpected
purchase of a cement pump, which was late arriving from another
project.
Hildebrand said the park is more than 90 percent finished, with
work remaining on the concrete bowls, perimeter decks and street
obstacles.
Tony Madunich of the Parks and Recreation Department said the
community and city were eager to celebrate the project before
the onset of winter, which put Grindline under a tight schedule.
"We didn't cut them a lot of slack on the timeline,"
Madunich said, adding, "We understand that if anything can
go wrong it probablywill. Murphy's Law haunts us every day."
Bucknell said about 150 kids showed up last Saturday, expecting
the park to be open. A few snuck some test runs on the skate park,
until adults kicked them off because exposed rebar posed safety
risks.
Madunich said the priority is to open the park as soon as possible.
In the meantime, he asks that parents keep their kids out of the
area, because of safety concerns and the potential damage to the
cement finish.
Festivities will have to wait until spring, Madunich said. "We
anticipate there will be many celebrations and events surrounding
this skate park.
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