Bedford rolls out skate park plans

With plans moving ahead for Bedford County’s Falling Creek Skatepark, organizers and contractors met with some area residents Thursday night to discuss options for the park’s design.

Brad Siedlecki, president of Arizona-based Pillar Design Studios, the firm overseeing construction of the park, outlined basic plans Thursday, with the hope of spurring discussion among residents about what they want to see in the park.

The basic concept that Siedlecki presented had the park sectioned into three parts, including a large bowl, a smaller bowl and a flow area, covering about 15,000 square feet of Falling Creek Park, near the city of Bedford.

About a dozen people attended the meeting at the Bedford Area Welcome Center, including Bedford County Parks and Recreation Director Michael Stokes.

Stokes said the county is in talks with the firm to finalize the contract but supervisors were confident enough in the project that they approved the contract in advance.

“We decided to go ahead and jump on it, and they were willing to go ahead and come out before we actually have the signed contract,” he said. “We expect to have it any day now.”

Local skateboard enthusiast Brian Hilbish, who was in on the planning from the beginning, said he didn’t originally envision anything as in-depth as what Siedlecki did.

“When we first started out … we thought about just taking a tennis court and just putting ramps on it,” he said. “We were really willing to get anything for the kids to skate on.”

Then, Hilbish said, investors and donors started appearing, wanting to help the cause along, until the total money available reached more than $300,000.

That would be about enough, said Stokes, to cover a 10,000-square-foot park, leaving open the possibilities of scrapping one of the park’s bowls or further fundraising.

“We’re probably looking at least another $100,000,” he said.

Siedlecki advocated further fundraising but said everyone might be surprised at how far the money already allotted will go.

“Our goal is to get the whole 15,000 (square feet) in. We’re pretty good about working with communities and stretching the dollar,” he said. “It’s not a guarantee, and it’s not a promise, but we will definitely do anything in our power to help get that done.”

Forest teens Sean Davis and Josh Elder both said they are excited about the new skate park because of the variety it will offer.

“It’s something you’d see in like California or like Denver, some skateboard Mecca place, not Bedford,” Davis said.

Elder said he appreciated the fact that the community would have input on the project.

“I like that they’re trying to make something that no one else has,” he said. “It’ll be nice to see something that big, especially around here.”

Siedlecki said if all goes as planned, construction on the park would begin next year, and be completed by the fall.