Difficult trick: New Gypsum skatepark ahead of schedule and under budget
But while the park may look complete, it's still not quite ready
Ben Roof/For the Vail Daily
When the Gypsum Town Council on Tuesday began considering whether to put lights on the town’s new skatepark, the fact that the project appears to be coming in both ahead of schedule and under budget helped sway the decision.
The $55,000 expenditure for lights received unanimous approval from the council.
The park was proposed by a group of Red Canyon High School students and supporters known as “Skate Gypsum” who helped usher the project through the permitting and design phase. Skatepark designers Grindline were brought on to build the facility, and on April 7, the town — alongside students, community members, and Rep. Joe Neguse — broke ground on the project.
The goal at the time was to have a grand opening during the fall of 2023, but as the project nears completion at the end of July, it appears that a summer opening is imminent.
The project also came in at 32 percent under budget, said Taylor Slaugh, Gypsum’s communications and marketing manager, thanks to in-kind contributions and donations of materials.
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“We’ve had a lot of donations thanks to Skate Gypsum’s work,” Slaugh said. “And High Country Customs has been huge, they donated part of the shade structure, and the benches, and the sponsor plaques and the installation of those. And then a lot of construction donations like rebar, the crane was donated … so a lot of community support for it overall.”
But the park is not yet complete, Slaugh said, although it may look that way to eager skateboarders.
“Our public works crew still has quite a bit to do in terms of landscaping and drainage,” she said.
Slaugh asked the council to weigh in on the idea to have lights in the park, and the council asked local deputies from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office in the room what they thought of adding lights.
The officers said lights would be helpful in keeping the area safe.
At this point, “the biggest challenge is to keep people from using it,” she said. “So we’re keeping the construction fence up.”
