Port Kembla's skaters will get some input into the look of their new skate park.
The park will be built with $500,000 from the state's Port Kembla Infrastructure Fund, replacing the DIY one that Wollongong City Council almost demolished in 2022.
Will Mitry was one of the people behind that DIY park and had joined the Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce to lobby for the funding.
"I've been in Port Kembla for 13 years and we just saw that the investment fund money was going to areas where we didn't see see the benefit for the kids," Mr Mitry said.
"So we just figured it was time we put into use our focus, together within the community, to get that funding and create something the community wanted."
Up to this point the group has been working with the council to identify a location for the permanent park. That preferred location in King George V Oval is now with the council for formal approval.
"The preferred location is to the east of the existing basketball courts," he said.
"It was by far the better location out of everywhere we assessed due to cost, location of existing amenities, alignment with the master plan.
"There's a little hill that goes up from the basketball courts to Military Road, so we're going to tuck it in between the basketball courts and the vegetation."
The next stage includes inviting locals to explain what they would like to see in the park.
"We've got a couple of artists working with us so we'll be taking the community's feedback and ideas and that informs the design brief," Mr Mitry said.
"Then the designers go off an design that. We've got the artists who designed the original PKDIY T-shirts. As part of this design process they're going to be using their skills in creative expression to help sketch out this concept design. That concept design is submitted as part of a tender process for the build of the park."
A condition of the government funding is that the project be completed in two years. Mr Mitry said he hoped to see construction begin in July next year.
The community consultation day for the new Port Kembla skate park will take place on Novermber 18 at the existing PKDIY park.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
