A south Auckland man’s dream of building his beach community their first pump track for kids may yet come true.
Byron Scott has tried for years to build a pump track in the Maraetai and Beachlands area.
He had the expertise and the funds but lacked the space to bring his dreams of a 360 square metre asphalt pump track to life.
“Originally, we tried to get one in Ōmana Regional Park, which we weren’t able to do,” Scott said.
“We then tried the local schools, but they don’t really have space.”
His company, Trailpro, built asphalt pump tracks and bike tracks in schools and for councils, all over the North Island.
“We just didn’t have one in our community… we have to travel to Papakura for a decent one.
“And, our local skate park is very dilapidated and very basic; and needs an upgrade.
“As a father of three young boys, I find it sad that my boys have no where to go to skate or bike.”
Scott was willing to put up more than $100,000 for the project, and got in touch with the Franklin Local Board to help secure a space.
Constellation Park on Beachlands was a final opportunity to finally build the pump track, considered a suitable site by local board staff and had adequate space to accommodate the proposed facility.
The park currently had a playground that catered to younger children, with a concrete circular pathway and bike racks.
At the recent local board meeting in December, Scott said his company was in a position now to bring this dream to reality and wanted to build this summer.
“I am willing to meet all costs to make this happen in our area, this includes a high level design plus labour and materials to build it.
“A track of this value normally costs around $80-100k but I wish to donate this to the community.”
He said they were also going to reach out to the community for help in fundraising for special material.
“We really need this facility.”
Franklin Local Board voted in December to fast-track the process and have limited consultation, as well as find funding in their budget to contribute to the project.
Board member Logan Soole said he fully supported the project and didn’t want to miss the opportunity of valuable funding from a resident, to build an important community asset.
“It’s really important we don’t miss out on this,” he said.
“I hope we can get consultation on this as quickly as possible… [I’m] always in support going to full consultation but we need to speed this up before we lose this investment.”
Scott said it wasn’t just about building a pump track for his kids, but one for the whole community.
“I feel for the local kids that don’t have somewhere to go, and that’s what this is all about.
“The area is very bike-centric, so there are a lot of people keen on bikes, so this is, I think, a piece of the puzzle that’s missing.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.