Faced with the recently revealed current of strong concerns about the chosen location for Pemberton’s skateboard park and its proximity to power lines, Village lawmakers on Tuesday (July 6) reiterated their decision to provide the site across from the Cottonwood Community Centre for the long-sought facility.

At Tuesday’s regular council meeting, representatives for the cause of the people concerned about locating the park near the power lines made another plea for a different site, again citing fears of links between regular exposure to electromagnetic fields and health risks.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Pemberton Skateboard Society expressed support for the Lot 12 site after several years of debate over the issues and fundraising and planning efforts. Council also received a letter from Dr. Paul Martiquet, the region’s medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, that responded to the mayor’s request for comments by suggesting “the benefits of physical activity and creating a non-obesogenic environment far outweigh the risks of exposure to EMF radiation sources.”

A proposal to move the skatepark site away from the power lines, submitted to council by concerned Pemberton residents Nada Shureih and Mark Bannock, said there is research that links regular exposure to electromagnetic fields “to leukemia and cancers in children.” Martiquet’s letter, though, said “research is inconclusive respecting the possible carcinogenic affects of low frequency magnetic fields and is ongoing.”

And a staff report from Daniel Sailland, the Village’s chief administrative officer, indicated time is extremely tight to consider changing the location while trying to complete the facility in time to meet the March 2011 deadline that comes with the key grants of $245,236 from the federal and provincial governments. The skateboard society and the Village got the grants for the project from the Building Canada Fund, and the magnitude of the money “for a project of this nature in a community of this size is uncommon,” Sailland wrote.

“There is a very slim chance of changing the location at this time while still meeting the grant completion criteria of March 31, 2011, and maintaining project costs. If we do not meet the completion criteria we will lose, at the very least, the core funding for the project of $245,236,” Sailland wrote, also cautioning that other contributors might reconsider their donations if circumstances change.

After hearing from the delegations and receiving Sailland’s report – which also recapped past research by Village staff into possible alternative sites and literature on health effects from electric and magnetic fields, as well as the results of the Village’s community survey in December and January about the issue of the site’s proximity to the power lines – the Village’s lawmakers voted quickly and with little further discussion to uphold their January decision to give the Lot 12 site for the skateboard park.

Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy noted that “what we’re doing here as a council is making Lot 12 available. That is a property the Village (has) tenure to… It’s really a joint effort with the skateboard society, and I think we’ve seen where the skateboard society stands on this particular issue.”

Shureih again put forward a plea for the Village’s council to consider offering a different site for the skateboard park, possibly Pioneer Park. She spoke out along with other concerned community members and skateboarders at the Village’s annual general meeting one week before.

Saying that petitions in print and online and a Facebook group have by now attracted support from about 1,200 people since a skateboard park design meeting on June 24, Shureih said she knows the timelines are tight. But she believes that if another site were offered, discussions with all necessary parties could find the best way to use the available time and money and build the facility before the grants expire.

“To us it is a very big deal. It’s about health and safety and the future generations of our community,” she said.

Annikka Snow of the Pemberton Skateboard Society also pleaded the case of the area’s youth, saying they deserve to have the skateboard park become a reality, and they are the reason why the project was pursued in the first place.

“We don’t like the power lines, and in a perfect world we wouldn’t have them in our town,” she said, adding that the issue of the site and power line concerns has been debated over the last five years.

Snow said the skateboard society was excited to get the Lot 12 site after looking high and low for other options. Pioneer Park had been earmarked for other uses, and the green space next to the new community centre had been slated for the long-desired waterpark and had geothermal equipment under it, she said.

The Lot 12 site is “visible and accessible, and with some landscaping and trees it would be a great-looking part of our town,” Snow said. The skateboard society wants the Village lawmakers to consider all the facts, she added, but also wanted to appeal to them to say “please don’t let this one slip away.”

In brief

Lawmakers gave first reading to a bylaw intended to regulate commercial park use, with some councillors raising concerns about potentially going overboard and a lack of clarity in some spots. Some revisions were requested… Council received the first Arts and Cultural Community Scan report, while suggesting some changes and additions. A map component is in the works.