The crew pushing for a new skate park in Merimbula are celebrating "our first real win" after Wednesday's confirmation of $20,000 in council funding.
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The money is yet to hit their bank account but is destined for putting towards design concepts for new skate parks at both Merimbula and Eden.
In other big news, the people behind the proposal have only in the past few weeks confirmed the creation of an official association - the Sapphire Coast Skate Parks Association - with Peter O'Keefe as the inaugural president.
"It's all very exciting, this is our first real win," Mr O'Keefe said.
"We've been campaigning for ages. We only have about $5000 in the bank so there were a lot more T-shirts we needed to sell!
"We were given the opportunity to apply for the money and try to convince the council it was a great idea.
"I gave a deputation to council on Wednesday and they must've thought it was a great idea as the money was approved."
Mr O'Keefe said the objectives of the newly formed association was to look after and deliver skate park projects for the whole Bega Valley Shire, not just the current Merimbula proposal.
He said they have already had positive discussions with Bermagui and Eden communities as to the formation of a shire-wide association, and members would continue to talk to skating groups and the wider community as design concepts are developed.
"There's a lot of work for us involved, but we believe it will yield better results for everyone," Mr O'Keefe said.
As for where the $20,000 is heading, Mr O'Keefe said the association had already been in initial discussions with design companies and also getting plenty of input from local skaters on what they'd like to see.
"Designs have been part of the conversation for the past 12 months, and now we have money for Eden we'll be engaging with them as well.
"The idea is to target Merimbula for a more beginner to intermediate flow-style of skate park so that it doesn't double up on Pambula's, which is more technical."
Location of a new Merimbula skate park is still undecided with Mr O'Keefe saying there will be a "democratic process of applying specific site selection criteria on location, size, style" and so on.
"We're careful not to give weight to one location over another at this stage."
Mr O'Keefe said design concepts would be reported back to council for them to look at and to put out for community consultation. However, a definite time frame was not set at this stage.
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