The Wright City Board of Aldermen approved a $14,500 bid from American Ramp Company for the design phase of the city’s skatepark at the planned 62-acre park on Westwoods Road at their Feb. 13 meeting. The city received a grant of over $400,000 from the Land, Water and Conservation Fund in October to cover the cost of the skatepark. 

“They are going to work to help us design the skatepark,” said Mayor Michelle Heiliger. “And we also have Justin Fears with us tonight, who has been integral since the beginning of this project and helping us get here.”

The bid from American Ramp Company was the low bid received by the city and was approved unanimously by the board in a 4-0 vote. 

Fears has been an advocate of the skatepark since the park’s inception and spoke about the thought process behind the design, and what citizens can expect to see out of their new park. 

“We kind of took a look at the spatial layout and the (topography) of what the park actually is,” said Fears. “And so we were able to get a visual of what the actual layout is going to be.”

Parks Director Stuart Bruning also pointed out the reason they are separating the design phase of the project is to determine what parts of the work Wright City crews can conduct. 

The grant the city received requires a match for the funds, and the city hopes to handle the bulk of that match with in-kind work on the skatepark. 

“One of the biggest reasons for it being in two separate phases, design and the construction side, is so we can really figure out what is going to be the work that can be done in kind, what work American Ramp Company specifically needs to do,” said Bruning. 

Alderman Ramiz Hakim also clarified that the city would be reimbursed for the cost of the design contract through the grant. 

Heiliger was also careful to point out that while some citizens recently have spoken out against the skatepark, when the original meetings were held to discuss the proposal, it received overwhelming support. 

“When we started talking about this skatepark and we had the first meeting this room was full,” said Heiliger. “It was full of people who came in and said we want something in this town that’s not a ball field. We want something for people who don’t play ball.”

Bruning said they planned for the skatepark to be roughly 8,000 square feet and that the city and ARC planned to hold additional meetings for public input on what they want to see from their skatepark. 

He was also excited that the new park’s proximity both to one of the new apartment complexes in Wright City and two separate schools could introduce plenty of kids in the area to a new hobby. 

“I think that is also very important that we’re creating a new pathway for kids to get into some kind of sport or extracurricular they wouldn’t have had before,” said Bruning. 

Fears also pointed out that the skatepark will be an “all-wheel” park, accommodating not only skateboarders, but BMX bikes, scooters, inline skates and even wheelchairs. 

The skatepark is just a small part of the larger park project which is also supposed to include three full-sized baseball fields, a T-ball field, parking, concessions, bathrooms and a batting cage. 

That portion of the park is going to be located in the front 20 acres of the property and a bid for concrete work was awarded last year to Karrenbrock Construction to break ground on the project. 

They have been conducting surveying work since and expect to break ground during spring of this year.