Trail was denied grant funding that would have helped push the city’s long-awaited urban all-wheel park into motion, it was announced Tuesday night.
The Community Recreation Program could have covered up to 80 per cent of the anticipated $450,000 project that is planned for at a site across from the Piazza Colombo in the Gulch.
The city has sent a letter to the province to find out how its application fell short.
“We are very disappointed that we did not receive funding for the skate park,” Trail Mayor Dieter Bogs said in council chambers.
Trail did not include the park in its budget this year but if it did get the recreational grant, it would have looked at construction next year. At this time Bogs said the skateboard committee has to digest the news before deciding what is next.
“We thought it was the best presentation we had ever submitted,” he said. “Certainly we had a number of youth organizations in our community provide us with support letters and information.”
Morgan-River Jones, coordinator for Columbia Youth Community Development Centre, said Greater Trail youth are not going to be discouraged and will move forward by seeking support from Columbia Basin Trust’s Community Initiative Program.
Program funds are allocated on a per capita funding formula and are distributed once a year to CBT’s local government partners. Jones said she will be making presentations to Greater Trail councils in the coming weeks in hopes of securing some of the Basin funding.
