City of West Vancouver sparks outrage looking at replacing skate park with pickleball courts

A petition to save a West Vancouver skate park from being replaced by pickleball courts is getting traction online.

On March 10, West Vancouver’s city council approved a cost estimate to replace Gleneagles Adventure Park’s bike terrain and skateboard bowl.

The motion, with recommendations from the city’s Pickleball Advisory Roundtable, claims the facilities have not seen consistent popular use.

At the meeting, Senior Manager of Parks Jill Lawlor said the bike terrain is limited to BMX mountain bikes and the bowl is catered to advanced riders.

“Neither have attracted consistent popular use, and anecdotal evidence suggests low usage of the site,” said Lawlor.

Meanwhile, the city noted the rise of demand for pickleball courts in the region.

The action is highlighting a divide between skaters and pickleball players, as petition organizer Ryan Taylor says it’s sparked anger in the BMX and skate community.

“I quite strongly disagree with their belief that this is an unpopular area, and I do believe that the large amount of signatures and popularity that my petition is getting really speaks to that,” Taylor told 1130 NewsRadio.

Taylor believes the courts should be built at Ambleside Park instead, to meet the demand of pickleball players.

Taylor says the park is an institution in Metro Vancouver and believes it has Olympic prospects.

“The Olympics do not have street competitions yet, they’re entirely ramp parks, and this is an entire park — and a very high quality, one at that.”

Pickleball group hopes to clear the air, says it is open to compromise

A local pickleball group connected to the proposal says it was the district’s decision to remove the skateboard bowl.

“At no time did West Van Players — the pickleball community of West Vancouver — ask for the removal of the skate park,” said group president Edward Pielak.

Pielak says he would love to compromise to keep the park, and explains the group’s initial proposal — which would have avoided the skateboard bowl — was changed.

“We have already got plans for three pickleball courts alongside the bowl, and this is what we’re expecting,” he said.

“The pickleball people are going to be happy with that. It doesn’t affect us. The pickleball courts are going to go beside, whether it’s beside the bowl or beside the pump track.”

In an email, the city says staff plans to collect community feedback on the proposal and present those findings to council at a later date.

Taylor’s petition has garnered over 4,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.